Happy New Year (and a Christmas Eve gender reveal!)

January 01, 2013apollina baker

Happy first day of 2013! It is going to be a wonderful year, full of very big changes and unknown adventures. I hope you all have enjoyed the last week of holiday fun. We totally unplugged; the 9 of us locked ourselves in the house playing games, eating and using the Maryland snow to justify our hibernation.

We had our gender reveal on Christmas Eve with a delicious cake from Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe. With Brad's family on the West Coast joining us via Google Hangouts, we cut into our "present" and freaked out for a little bit, it was so much fun and we are THRILLED!

I was 24 weeks on Christmas Eve and have since crossed into my third trimester, I cannot believe it!

We are having a little girl! We are so excited and so surprised! It is an amazing feeling to know more about this little person moving around inside of me and to realize she'll be in my arms in a little over 3 months!

Now, the next items on the agenda: a car that can fit a car seat in the back; a dresser/changing table for the nursery/office/guest bedroom; and a name for our little girl. 2013 is off to a busy and exciting start!

xoxo,

Apollina

categories Me
tags baby, holidays

Holiday time is almost here

December 20, 2012apollina baker

And I am so looking forward to it. We've been operating in the spirit of busyness lately and it will be wonderful to switch gears, relax and enjoy my family for a while. My sister is already in town and my other sister and the baby will be here tomorrow night. We are going to be doing a lot of game playing and eating and drinking (well, I won't be drinking this year;) and just enjoying our time together. I didn't get to take my 23 week picture last weekend but I plan on doing my 24 week one for sure.

Brad and I haven't found out the sex of the baby yet. I didn't think he would have an opinion about finding out or not but it turns out, he wants to wait for the surprise. He loves surprises and a lot of people were telling him that this is the biggest and best surprise of his life and he should definitely wait to find out what the baby is until he or she is born. Well, it just so happens that I don't place a lot of value on surprises, I'm much more a "give me all the information" kind of girl. Brad likes to relay the anecdote about how when we watch movies on our laptop at home, I'll get on the iPad to find out what happens at the end because I gotta know; Brad says, "Just watch the movie and you'll find out!" But I want to put it all together and understand everything that is going to happen. I want to know if we are having a boy or girl not because of nursery or clothing colors (I prefer gender neutral baby things anyway) but because I want to have the time to think about our little person specifically and give this baby a particular name and bond even more with my little one during the last leg of our journey together as one person.

Our compromise between finding out when we could have at the ultrasound and finding out when the baby is born is finding out on Christmas Eve. That's all I want for Christmas! And it will be pretty cool because we are going to make a whole thing out of it and share the moment with our families. So, probably the next time I post, we will know! And I will show you...

images via Dust Jacket Attic, Call Me Cupcake (with the recipe for the Fudge Ice cream cake with cherries!), and 100 Layer Cake