Yesterday was the big day.  Baby Sex Day, as Derek likes to call it.  He thinks the shock of the wording is funny.  I think so too.  So, Derek went with me to the doctor yesterday to find out what we were having.  They called us right back for the ultrasound.  We were taken a little off guard that we were doing that 1st thing, but we were still very excited.  The technician scanned the baby’s head, kidneys, bladder, and limbs, and then she moved on to the moment of truth. IT’S A BOY!  Just as she said those three little words a tear ran down my cheek.

We invited close friends and family over for the big reveal last night.  I thought it would be fun to reveal the baby’s gender to everyone by having everyone bite into a “baby” sized cupcake and finding either pink or blue on the inside.  We also picked up some BBQ sandwiches from a local BBQ joint, Central BBQ.  It was so yummy.

Once we got home from the doctor’s office I began adding the blue icing to the cupcakes and then topping them with vanilla to mask the inserted color.

People began arriving around 6:30pm.  We dug into some BBQ and then around 7:20pm the big cupcake reveal happened.  Everyone was extremely excited.  Including little Sophie you see in the picture below, we had a grand total of 17 people partaking in the big reveal.  And they all were able to fit inside of our teeny tiny house!

I think my mom and sister were hoping for a girl…maybe next time.  My mom even brought a present for a little girl.  It was the sweetest little blue and white cotton dress you’ve ever seen.  Sorry mom.  

Since most of you reading this weren’t in attendance….here is a video of how it all went down.

It’s a boy!

Our friends Ryan and Sarah arrived just a few short minutes after the reveal so I pulled them aside, and gave them each a cupcake.  They each bit in and saw the blue.  However, Ryan yells out IT’S A GIRL!  We all began to laugh because we thought he was just kidding…like he always does.  Come to find out he was serious.  He told us later in the evening that he was expecting it to be a girl, and didn’t register the color.  He just saw “a color” and shouted from the roof tops that we were having a girl.  That guy cracks me up.

In all, it was a great day ( and night ).  I’m so thankful that we have friends and family that love us so much that they chose to share this special day with us.  Thanks to all of you who made it.

So, Christmas day was the big reveal.  Derek and I thought it would be a great idea to record our family’s reaction to the news.  We figured that we would all be so wrapped up in the excitement of it all that no one would remember how it all really went down.  This is the video from my in-laws house.  We’ll the two videos from their house.  Derek started up the camera again when they checked out the ultrasound.  ENJOY~

For my parents house we used my dad’s video camera to film. However, the file he gave me of the day’s events is in a format that I can’t upload to the web. So, once we get that little hiccup fixed I will then post that video.

Saturday night Derek’s parents had my parents and us over for dinner. Our parents get along great so of course things were moving along just fine. Everyone was relaxed and comfortable with the company around them when we sat down to dinner. Doogle, my father-in-law, (it’s a nickname) made his famous pasta. I don’t know what you would call it because it’s different every time he makes it, but it is ALWAYS delicious.

So we sit down to dinner with pasta on our plates, and salad dressing (for our salads) in the middle of the table. Do you see where I heading with this? My dad starts into a story about who knows what and begins preparing his salad. Well I guess he was a bit too involved in his storytelling to realize that he was pouring raspberry vinaigrette all over his pasta. I don’t think anyone else realized it until he called out his own mistake. Then he decides that hey why not see if it tastes good? Seriously dad? That’s just nasty. After he took that first bite…he agreed. NASTY.

I guess that was a lesson in never getting TOO comfortable.  Somehow writing about pasta w/ raspberry salad dressing just made me hungry.  Wow, I really am pregnant.

I just wanted to share with you a few moments from our joyous little Christmas.  I hope yours was wonderful as well.

1.  posing with the davenports after the big reveal

2.  sprout onesie from gymboree

3.  me and the hubbs with our “phish food crew” (phish food is my dad’s boat) jackets on that my mom had made for the whole family

4.  the cutest little monkey nephew walking through the door on christmas morning

5.  the beautiful quilt derek’s grandfather had made just for me

6.  the ultrasound (i got to hear the heart beat at only 6 weeks!)

7.  my new snowflake ornaments from the nesta home etsy shop (i’m in LOVE with them)

8.  my family passing around the ultrasound and giggling (what’s with my face?)

Pumpkin Creme Pies

Here is the pecan pie I made.  I didn’t have enough time to let my crust set up because I cooked it the morning of.  I forgot that it has to be refrigerated for at least an hour before rolling it out.

Geeez Jen, how could you make such a rookie mistake?!? It still tasted wonderful.  It was just the presentation that was lacking.

Pecan Pie w/ a wonky crust

Ya’ll’ve (wow! a double contraction….NICE) seen my Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie so I didn’t take a picture of it this time.

Puff Pastry-Wrapped Brie

And here are just some pictures of the fun we had that day.  This is my nephew, I call him JD, but his name is Jerry.  What a face!!!  Love this kid.

I don’t know if it is like this in every family, but the guys in mine are Deviled Egg-aholics.  It’s bad!

This is what the tray looked like in the 1st 3 minutes…yup, it was full.  We made them promise not to eat anymore until dinner started.  To make certain they each got two more; the boys decided they should be in charge of egg distribution for the remainder of the evening.  I was the Deviled Egg moderator.

My in-laws came over to celebrate with my family, and that always makes for great conversation.  After dinner, due to a lingering sinus headache, I went upstairs and passed out for like 2.5 hours while the guys all played Call of Duty :: Modern Warfare 2.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Derek and I are planning, well hoping and planning, to go skiing with our friends Rachel and Jeremy next December.  Rachel, Jeremy, and I are experienced skiers and Derek has gone once, and fell in love with the sport.  Ever since Derek’s only trip, he has been dying to hit the slopes again.

We were having dinner with Rachel and Jeremy one night when we approached the subject of our vacation idea.  Rachel did all but jump out of her seat and run around the restaurant, kissing every man, woman, and child in her path; hopping from table to table, exclaiming her overwhelming joy about getting to cut through some fresh powder on those snowy, snowy peaks.

Once Rachel gained her composure, took a sip of her water, and began to breathe again she turned to Jeremy and with the point of her finger and the squint of her eyes, she said in a hushed voice…I AM SO GONNA KICK YOUR BUTT ON THAT MOUNTAIN!  Jeremy replied with a simple YOU WISH.  In the meantime, Derek and I just sat back and watched the action unfold all the while mentally patting ourselves on the back for successfully bringing out the competitiveness in a newly married couple.

We immediately began discussing our favorite places to ski (well Jeremy, Rachel, and I), you know cuz Derek has only been the one time…WHAT A NEWB.  Then, and I don’t quite remember how, we started discussing Whistler, Canada.  Rachel and Jeremy honeymooned in Canada and said it was gorgeous.  Whistler is also the top rated ski resort in North America.  Each day we fall more in love with the idea of a ski vacation in Whistler.

You can go dog sledding in Whistler!  How sweet is that?  Just imagine…adorable little puppies pulling me in a sled all bundled up in a big ‘ole parka, squealing with glee the entire length of the ride.  I’ve heard that sled dogs L O V E pulling sleds, so it makes me happy to be making those sweet little doggies happy.

Not to mention those adorable little shoes they wear.  I mean really…how can a dog be any more precious?  I’ll tell you how, put little shoes on their teeny tiny tootsies.  They have tubing too.  I’m so going tubing!

I have a feeling that I’m gonna want to do so many of the extra winter activities, while we are there, that I’m not going to leave any time for skiing.  Nah…I’ll make time to ski.  I mean, come on…I’ve been skiing since the age of 3.

That reminds me of a picture my dad emailed me.  It’s of him and me on the slopes back in 1986.  Look how fancy I am, and how cool he looks in his tight-ish ski pants.  Gotta love the 80’s!

My favorite person in the world, with one of his…