Our sweet Baby #4 is another ***Girl***!!!
That brings our little gaggle to two boys in a row and then two girls. That's something out of a daydream right there! I wrote on Facebook when I made the announcement, "My six-year-old self couldn't have planned it any better!"
It kinda goes without saying, but we are beyond excited. :)
I decided to come up with a fun way to break the news to our kids. I've never made a big deal out of "revealing" the gender to our family and since this is possibly our last baby, I wanted to do something special!
I loved the idea of releasing balloons out of a box! Of course I found dozens of adorable and inspiring images on Pinterest, and I even started thinking about hiring one of my talented photographer friends to come photograph the event. But in the end, I decided to keep it a little family occasion.
And, ok, I also wanted credit for the cuteness of the photos. :)
Right after my ultrasound appointment, my husband and I headed over to a party store with a big ol' box I had bought from the UPS store. (It was kinda spendy buying a large box there, but I really wanted a purdy, brand new one with no markings. Plus, now I'm planning on repurposing it for something fun for Christmas!) We filled it with about 15 large pink helium balloons...a dozen were loose (no strings) so they could float right up and out of the box, and we had 3 tied to a balloon weight so each of our kiddos could keep one. 'Cause they are kind of balloon obsessed. I knew if they watched a bunch of beautiful balloons appear and then every single one immediately disappear into the sky, escaping their grasp, there would probably be more weeping and wailing than whoops of excitement!
We picked up our oldest from school and my two youngest from my friend who was babysitting and headed over to a cute spot in a nearby park. I was so excited and my 6-year-old, at least, was too, but....
My idea didn't really go as planned.
I had dreamed of capturing images of my children simply tugging on a ribbon, with no idea of what was in the box, and the balloons exploding out suddenly. I imagined watching the delight on their little faces as the balloons soared upward and upward, dazzlingly, into the clear blue sky. But....
We (ok, I...) took kinda long getting the whole thing set up. I only took a couple minutes! But you know young kids and their attention spans...they were getting antsy.
Then my boys had a hard time getting the box completely open and the surprise factor kind of disappeared...they saw the balloons long before they were able to pop out.
When they *did* pop out, my daughter chose that very moment to get upset and come jump into my lap crying. I had been snapping photos, but I kinda missed the money shot. And instead of bursting out of the box in a big ol' bunch, they kinda just drifted out anticlimactically, one or two at a time.
The balloons then ended up making it only a few feet before drifting right up into the branches of a nearby tree. I thought we were far enough away from it to avoid that.....nnnnnope!
*Then* my kids promptly began fighting over the other 3 balloons (there's one for *each* of you, people!), and spent several minutes running around chasing each other and crying.
"Mine!"
Le sigh.
You can't have it all, right?
It didn't turn out perfectly, but the longer I'm a mom the more I come to accept that these kinds of things never do, or rarely will. I may not have gotten all the pinterest-perfect photos I was hoping for, but it's a memory that will always make me smile!
And so does the thought of having another sweet little girlie darling. :)
P.S. The girls will be nearly exactly 2 years apart...Kara's birthday is February 27th and BabyGirl is due March 3rd. My husband is betting they'll end up sharing a birthday. In which case I can throw them a big ol' double birthday bash and go doubly-crazy on the party planning each year...right, honey?
;) ;) ;)
