Boy or Girl?

"A daughter is a miracle that never ceases to be miraculous...full of beauty and forever beautiful...loving and caring and truly amazing." -- Deanna Beisser

Giavonna Grace Guise at 20 weeks and 4 days old. She weighed 14 ounces.

      I must confess, Russ and I have had an unfair advantage when discovering the gender of our baby. The day I found out I was pregnant I knew I was having a girl. I can't explain how I knew, I just had a settled, peaceful realization that the little person within me would be my Giavonna. Throughout the pregnancy I teeter-tottered about the gender, my instincts told me to buy dresses, but the ultrasounds confused me. I saw Russell's nose and eyes on the screen, and I found myself double guessing my initial thought about who was growing inside me, perhaps I would have a beautiful son. There was no more need for questioning after April 23rd, when our ultrasound technician announced that Russell and I would be having a girl. I was having my Gia.

      Russell and I are expressive people, and our favorite form of communication is creativity. We knew that we wanted our baby's gender announcement to be a fun, celebratory experience for our family. So preparations were made and we surprised our families on Sunday, April 27th, with a Gender Reveal Party (or at least we tried to surprise our families, my mother and my Granna refuse to be surprised, so one found out early and the other couldn't stop guessing via facebook all morning). It was the first party Russ and I ever hosted, and it was so much fun! Thankfully, we had some help with the party set up, my long time best friend Amanda came over early to help me cook the food and clean my house. I couldn't ask for a better friend <3 I also had the help of my and Russell's family, a huge ham was given by Granna, a fruit tray by mom and french toast by my mother inlaw. Combine all that with my mini quiches, cupcakes and scones and there was plenty to eat. To surprise everyone at the same time we decided to make chocolate cupcakes stuffed with pink buttercream and coated in chocolate gauche (thanks Pioneer Woman for the recipe!). As our guests arrived we asked them to say a message to our baby on our video camera and to wait until everyone had arrived before taking a cupcake.

Our Gender Reveal station

The cupcakes!

Russell explaining the Gender Reveal Station to our future daughter on camera

      We had some wonderful words captured on camera to our beautiful baby. We plan to video tape all her major milestones and events so we can one day show her how very loved she was, since before she was born. Once everyone arrived our guests took a cupcake, gathered in the living room, and took a big bite on the count of three. 

SURPRISE!!! IT'S A GIRL!! (From left to right: mom, Granna, Meme, Lynn, Aunt Jackie, Uncle Greg)

It's time to celebrate!!

My father inlaw and mother inlaw, and my best friend Amanda

Me video taping everyone's reaction (Russ took the photos)

There's always time for a selfie when celebrating! (Notice Amanda peaking behind us haha)

      After all the celebration over a long awaited little girl, everyone grabbed some food and enjoyed each other's company.

Five generations of women! Me (and Gia), Granny, Granna, and Mom

Dad G, Mom G, Russ, me, mom, Dave

Joy and I

      So, to sum it up, the Gender Reveal party was a success (not to mention a lot of fun)! I can't wait for Giavonna to enter into this world and meet all the people who already love her so much.