une petite aventure: gender reveal

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Baby Lowery #2: It's a GIRL!

In case you missed all the excitement from our reveal last week, we found out Baby Lowery #2 is a GIRL!! We could not be more thrilled to add all things pink and sparkle to our house AND help me balance out some of the testosterone. ;)

As you know, we really didn't discuss names much leading up to the reveal, so I think quite a few were surprised when we actually announced her name! How did we decide? I'll tell you!

We drove down to Conway on Monday night (21st) and I just really wanted to talk about what we were going to name our baby. My husband, being ever so sweet, agreed. We decided on the boy's name pretty quickly---Griffin John. I have always loved the name Griffin. It is unique, yet not hard to pronounce or spell and I think it just sounds masculine. It means "protector", deriving from "gryphon" which is a mythological creature with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion. It is known as being king of the creatures and a protector. John is my dad's first name and means "God is gracious." We loved the meaning, plus it's a family name so we thought it was a win-win.

The girl name was much harder. We were torn between two names and could not decide which we liked better. Our first choice was Norah Rose. Norah means "woman of honor" and it was Daniel's grandmother's name. Rose obviously means "rose" and it is my grandmother's middle name. We loved how it honored both great-grandmothers and we also loved the meaning. Our second choice was Evie Elizabeth. Evie means "life" and is a derivative of Eve, the mother of all mankind. Elizabeth is my middle name and since Holt has Daniel's middle name we thought it would be cool for our daughter to have mine.

We decided to sleep on it and talk about it the next day. The day of the reveal, we were actually at the eye doctor, and we both just felt Evie Elizabeth seemed to "fit" this baby if she was, indeed, a girl. So, literally we decided on her name the day of the reveal party. This whole pregnancy I have felt this baby was a girl, but the day of the party I was starting to doubt and think that maybe it was another boy. We would have been so happy either way---if it was indeed a boy, Holt would have such a great relationship with his brother. And if it turned out to be a girl, I had no doubt he would have the sweetest time with his sister.

So it's a girl! And her name is Evie Elizabeth Lowery. We cannot wait to meet her and see her sweet little face, find out what color her hair is, and count all those fingers and toes. She is going to be the perfect addition to our family!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Gender Reveal Party

Ok, talk about a case of pregnancy brain. It just occurred to me that I STILL have not given y'all a post on our gender reveal party...that happened 2 months ago. *major fail* SO....with that being said, let me recap that glorious day for y'all!

Thursday, March 20th: Daniel and I had "the big" doctor's appointment--the one halfway through your pregnancy where they do an hour-long ultrasound and you have the option of finding out the gender of the little bambino growing inside of you. Let me just say, that hour (or more like 40 minutes) of watching my child on-screen was one of the neatest experiences I have EVER had. And what a cool thing to experience with my better half! We told the ultrasound techs upfront that we didn't want to know--that we were having a gender reveal party the next day and that we were going to find out at that time. We also asked if they could call our bakery directly to tell them Boy or Girl (we had cupcakes made from PattiCakes in Conway and she was going to fill ours with either blue or pink icing). So, literally the ONLY people that knew what we were having was the two techs and Patti.

Fast-forward to Friday, March 21st: Waiting 36 hours to find out was REALLY hard! They even gave us the telling ultrasound picture in a sealed envelope to open after we found out. It took all my will-power and determination to not look before the party! But, I did it---and I am SO glad we did it this way! We had a Razorback Football themed party (naturally) since Baby L's due date is 2 weeks before the football season starts. We had yummy tailgate food and of course, cupcakes! Plus, I had made an Old Wives Tale chart and little clothespins with pompoms and footballs on them for people to wear their guess at the party. That was really fun to see what everyone thought Baby L was going to be!

Everyone arrived in their Razorback gear and we ate and chatted until 7:30pm---time for the big reveal! My heart was hammering! Daniel and I stood up in front of everyone, bit into our cupcakes, and....

IT'S A BOY!

I was completely shocked speechless! I really had no clue, but was leaning towards girl just because about 90% of people I encountered predicted girl. Daniel, of course, had called boy from the beginning. It was so fun to see everyone else's reactions too! My mom was probably the most surprised--she had said girl from the beginning. In her mind, there wasn't even the remotest possibility of it being a boy, probably because all the signs had pointed to girl! His heartrate was pretty high above 140, I had morning sickness, the ring test and the pencil test and the chinese gender calendar had ALL said girl--so therefore, she was convinced he was a girl! The look on her face was absolutely priceless and she is MORE than ecstatic about having a grandson--especially since we haven't had a boy on my side of the family since my 20 year old cousin, Will! Daniel's family was equally excited--out of the soon-to-be 9 grandchildren, the past 5 have been girls! They were ready for some more testosterone! It was such a wonderful evening and it was so fun for Daniel and I to wait to find out--definitely worth the 36 hour wait!

On a side note, not only is it fun to be pregnant, but it's really fun to be pregnant with some of the people you are closest too! A couple of my best friends from high school, Sarah and Leslyn were both pregnant at the time and we were able to get a picture of the 3 of us together! Sarah just had her baby girl, Charley, a few weeks ago (she's a Star Wars baby--May the 4th) and Leslyn is due with her little man on July 12th! It was so fun to see both of them! PLUS, both of my sister-in-laws are pregnant (although Rebekah didn't know at the time of the party)! Daniel's brother, Sean and his wife Kimberly are due with their 3rd little girl on June 5th, we are due with Holt on August 14th, and Daniel's other brother, Ben and his wife Rebekah just found out they are due with their 5th child in December! Lots of little Lowery babies born this year! It will be such fun to have all the cousins grown up together--I know some of my fondest memories in my childhood are from playing with my cousins!

And there you have it! If you are pregnant (or plan to be someday) I HIGHLY recommend doing a gender reveal party! It is such a special moment to share with your family and closest friends!

I'll leave you with some pictures :)