So, we debated over the many ways we could surprise our boys when we found out if they were getting a brother or sister. They had enjoyed my previous ultrasounds so we thought we could just bring them but I knew the appointment would get too long for their attention spans so we debated on some other ideas. At some point Charlie and I watched a video of someone cutting open a gender reveal cake. Charlie LOVED this idea. I told him we couldn't do it until we found out if we were having a boy or girl. HE looked at me in total seriousness and Said "MOM, that's how we find out if it's a boy or girl, we need a cake!" I thought that would be fun but my cake skills are super lame and Marissa said she would totally do it if we found out the gender before they moved to Nashville. Which didn't happen. So we opted for the tried and true balloon in a box method because what little kid doesn't love opening a giant package? We decided to make it a family night and do it at our favorite Park. And then we had lots of people asking about if we knew the gender yet so I just started inviting them to the park and made a whole party out of it with friends and family. And that's the story of our somewhat unintentional but incredibly fun Gender reveal party. And here a random assortment of photos from the event.
So earlier in the day, my mom had come down to watch the boys while Max and I went to the ultrasound appointment. I was super anxious. Max was sure it was a girl, and he has a talent for guessing anyone's baby. A perfect track record really. I tried to be ready for any possibility, I really was going to be happy with a boy or girl, but I found myself already thinking it was a girl. At the ultrasound. the tech started at the brain and moved down so we didn't have much glimpse of the gender until later in the appointment. In this time, i was becoming more convinced it was a girl. And then the big surprise....in case you hadn't heard yet....
IT'S A BOY!! I was somewhat surprised when the doctor sad, yup, those are definitely some testes right there! I was happy but a little shocked! haha! The boys were excited, Charlie had said he wanted a brother and Miles said he wanted a sister. I think Charlie just wanted blue balloons because that is his current favorite color, and Miles just wanted to choose something different than Charlie. But either way, they are happy since they got balloons.
In their massive balloon package, they also got some blue silly string. I wish we got more for all the kids but I wasn't thinking that far ahead and we just had 2 for our boys. They loved it even though Miles couldn't push the button on his own.
We enjoyed cupcakes with all our friends, (there really were a lot of
people there, but I wasn't doing so great at taking pictures) we had
both my parents, Elizabeth and her kids, my cousin Stephanie, Todd, and
their kids, Joe and Lindsay and their girls, The Heap family, the Taylor
family. and Richard and Marissa were present over FaceTime.
And, surprise, I was able to upload the video, enjoy it with our annoying voices and comments and all.
And there you have it, I'm surrounded by a house full of boys and I'm pretty sure I love it. I've really been enjoying the ages of my boys and how they can enjoy the same activities together and it will be fun to add another boy to the mix. Hooray for the Baertlein boys and for me being even more outnumbered!
For the last couple of years our friends Joe and Lindsay have
participated in a Hero-Up Race that was put together from some of their
very close friends who lost their 4-year-old son to Cancer. The mom of this little
boy was a runner and put together an incredible race that collects money
for the Children's Cancer Hospital and Cancer research. It also honors little Keith who passed away and also LOVED super heroes! We've wanted to
participate for awhile but haven't been able to. But this year, we made
it happen. The boys both got to dress up like super heroes and do the
kid run. Max signed up for the 5k and tried to see how fast he could
run. (He never really tries to see how fast he can go, especially if we
are running together) I was there for support this time. There is a half
marathon as well that Max may try next year. He's been running
consistently a couple times a week now (4-7miles/run) and is remembering
how much he loves it. Anyway, we had such a fun day participating.
Max actually finished before we even got there. He ended up running a 6:30 minute mile (for 3.1 miles) and finished 1st in his age group and 4th overall. He actually dressed up in all blue spandex and was some character from Fantastic 4. (We both had to google it) But we were so proud of Max, that is the fastest he's ever run!
Anyway, once we got there we started with some super hero warm-ups! (spinning)
Then the kid race was about to begin. The two and three year olds were in a group, so Miles got to run with Tali but Charlie did not.
I ran with Miles so there are no picture. It was a pretty short loop and he did great.
Then it was Charlie's wave. Max stayed close but Charlie ran the whole thing on his own. His loop was a little bigger and went all the way around the park.
Miles and I waited for him at the Finish Line.
And there's our Charlie, coming around the last corner!
We were cheering for Charlie from all sides!
And we had some happy and proud boys in the end.
The race was followed by a lot of playtime in the park with Tali and Alisi!
And Miles flying into Daddy's arms.
And there's that! Another fun family event that we plan to repeat next year.
This was just a quick little family night but it has a lot of photos in my phone so I thought I would document
it in its own post. We have still been working away at our real estate
business. We had some things slow us down like our first two houses
needed a bunch of permits but we are making great progress and now have 4
houses in our possession. Thanks to Max's diligent hard work the houses
are making serious headway and some should be on the market by
Thanksgiving time. Anyway, The boys love to go to work with daddy and
help with demolition. On this particular day, we all went. There really
is no need for us to lift a hammer but what fun is that to our little
boys? We went to one of the project houses and let the boys hammer at a
wall that was going to come down anyway. It is seriosuly the best and it
makes them so happy. It was also my first time seeing this particular
property so it is fun ot visualize the transformation. (Which has been
well on its way since we had this outing) Anyway....photos.
Boys!!
After our little outing, (and after we made a decent hole in the wall) we went and checked out another house that was close then made our way to Grilled Cheese Grill. This is where Max and I went on our anniversary weekend and we've wanted to take our boys back ever since. They loved playing and eating on the bus. I still had a little hesitation about eating on a bus since I personally know how disgustingly dirty they can me. I'd like to think that since this is a restaurant, there are some sort of cleanliness codes...but from appearance, it didn't really seem that way. Oh well...it is a very Portland outing.
