January 3

Today I had my 16 week check up. It was a quick and easy appointment: weight check (4.5 pounds gained so far), blood pressure check (normal) and a quick listen to the baby's heartbeat (138 bpm). I am always surprised to hear the heartbeat. Even with my ever growing belly and the nausea and the fatigue, I still have a hard time believing that this pregnancy is real! So that heartbeat is always an exciting and surprising reminder that the baby is real and alive and growing.

The other exciting thing about today's appointment was making my next appointment. The next appointment is the 20 week sonogram (and also the yucky glucose test, but we don't think about that!). And at the 20 week sonogram, we (hopefully) will get to find out this baby's gender!

And the exciting thing about finding out the baby's gender is the fun idea I found for revealing the gender to all of our friends. Last year I found this idea for a gender reveal party, a way to share the sex of the baby with all your friends. I loved the idea, but it was about a year too late for me to use it! So, as soon as we found out I was pregnant this time, I immediately started thinking up ideas for a gender reveal party. Daniel joked tonight that I was more excited about the party than the baby, which is not true at all...but I am very excited about the party idea! If you know me, you know I love any excuse to throw a theme party!
I made this invitation this afternoon. It still needs a little tweaking, but I think it's fun. Our appointment is on February 4, and my plan is to also have the party that evening. Now with my luck, they won't be able to determine the sex at the ultrasound (they almost couldn't at Audrey's ultrasound), so it may be a lot of party planning for nothing. But if that's the case, we'll just reschedule the party for the next ultrasound date and hope the baby is a bit more cooperative that time!