Baby Ultrasound & Gender Reveal!

We were so excited to get another glimpse of our growing little one. Grandpa, Grandma, Ian, and Ryan came with us to the ultrasound appointment. Littlest Schleicher looked just perfect. He was measuring a few days ahead of expected and weighed about a pound. We got some cute "pictures."

the baby's face (on the left) and body

The baby's heartbeat was 132 bpm..

Our boys (especially Ian) were thrilled to see the baby "wave" at them a few times.

arms

cute little feet

Toward the end of our time together, the ultrasound tech completed the gender reveal part of our ultrasound, though all of us in the room kept our eyes closed and let her print this picture that we gave to Chelsea when we got home. Chelsea right away worked on assembling the correct color of silly string for our gender reveal party later that night. She did a great job at keeping everything a secret!

All of us worked together to prepare for the party. We hung the ultrasound pictures as a decoration.

Our last step was getting the "pregnancy cravings bar" (snack table) all set. We served pickles, a veggie tray with Ranch dip, brownies, and chips & dip. Yum!

Soon, it was time for our guests to arrive! Jonathan was our official greeter. He made each guest cast a vote for "pink" or "blue" and wear a ribbon of the appropriate color. He also invited guests to suggest possible baby names for us. He did a great job of welcoming people and getting them in the party spirit right away!

We spent time talking, 

eating,

and playing at the beginning of the party.

Emily, Charlotte, Tanya, Holland, Julie, Raegan

Then, we all went outside into the particularly muggy weather (it rained HARD just before the party began) to take our "team pictures." Below ... TEAM PINK! (What great friends ... many even wore a correctly-colored "team jersey." ) :)

(back) Grandma, Grandpa, Jonathan, Eric, Carrie, Alicceson, Matt, Emily, Charlotte
(front) Julie, Raegan, Anna, Tanya, Holland, Melissa, Annelise, Ella

and TEAM BLUE!

(back) Matt, Kyle, Sammy, Elisabeth, Jonathan, Jeremy, Kim, Ryan, Sarah, Owen
(front) Nate, Riley, Carole, Cameron, Carson, Ian

Our guests were such good sports and participated willingly in our friendly team minute-to-win-it competitions. Any participant who completed the challenge was awarded a point for his/her color's team. First, our friends had to throw an increasing number of pencils in the air and try to catch them.

Eric & Matt

Aliceson & Carole

Julie & Elisabeth

Competition #2 involved stacking plastic cups into a pyramid and taking them down before the timer went off.

Nate & Melisssa

Sarah & Emily

Jonathan & Carrie

The next competition involved head-banging while having a pedometer strapped to your forehead.

Kyle & Jonathan

Kim & Matt

Kim getting Ryan's help

Finally, we had our friends wear pantyhose (with a tennis ball in the leg) on their heads. They had to swing their pantyhose "trunk" to try to knock over all of the water bottles in the given time.

Jeremy & Tanya

Eric & Carole

Chelsea -- wearing a neutral white shirt! :) (What a good sport!)

In the end, TEAM BLUE and TEAM PINK were tied with six points each. (The top "score" is everyone's votes.)

In order to break the tie, Nate represented Team Blue, and Melissa represented Team Pink in the Knock-over-the-water-bottle competition.

Melissa

Nate

Team Blue ended up getting the winning point after the tie-breaker. Then came the moment we had all been waiting for. Chelsea handed everyone a decorated & wrapped can of silly string. We counted down from 10 and all started squirting our silly string at the same time! BLUE, BLUE everywhere! "It's another boy!" people shouted! How exciting!

a video Jon took for some friends that live in Missouri

Jonathan read us all of the boy names that our friends had suggested. Some suggestions were better than others. :) Many people tried to suggest a name that fit our "ends in -n" tradition (like Ian and Ryan). Who knows? Maybe one of those names will be what we end up naming our littlest boy!

What a treat to have family and friends around to celebrate with us the news that God was sending us another healthy, precious little boy! What a blessing! :)

Grandpa and Grandma Come to Visit!

We were thrilled when Grandpa and Grandma said that they were going to come to Houston to visit this summer! Of course, our boys always love their playtime with Grandpa and Grandma! During their time here, Grandpa and Grandma read lots of books with our boys, though this trip Ian did some of the reading himself. (He is so proud that he can read all of the readers in a Scholastic set that I have. He can also read some other "real" books, though he likes it best when he can read every single word without help!) :) Grandpa and Grandma were great at being reading buddies for our boys.

One of the main reasons that Grandpa and Grandma came to visit Texas in July (besides our fabulous summer weather :)) is that they wanted to be one of the first to "see" their newest grandchild during our gender-reveal ultrasound. It made it extra special having them come along with us! After the ultrasound, Grandpa and Grandma took Ian and Ryan to the Culver's next door for a frozen custard treat,

to a gas station (where Ian got to help fill up the car ... he loves that!), and then back home for some play time so Daddy and Momma could have our follow-up with the doctor all by ourselves. How sweet!

Then, Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Chelsea helped us prepare for the gender-reveal party we had planned for later that evening. Grandma and Aunt Chelsea helped to wrap the silly string containers with scrapbook paper and ribbon. (We wrapped up the pink ones ... and Chelsea had to later secretly move all of the covers to the blue containers.)

Ian and Grandma worked together to make the brownies for the party.

Of course, Ian served as the quality control tester as well. :)

That night, we had our party. (We'll have a separate post about the party and festivities next ...) It was extra special to have family here in addition to all of our friends!

The next morning, Grandpa and Grandma took Ian to see "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" at a local theater that showed $1 movies during the summer. Ian thought it was super fun to see a movie with Grandpa & Grandma. Later in the day, Grandpa spent some time outside with both boys. Grandpa and Ian worked together to tame our crazy bush in the backyard. (Thanks, Grandpa! It looks much better now, thanks to your work!)

Ryan and Grandpa played a little t-ball together in the driveway.

Ian, Grandma, and I worked together to make dinner.

While it was cooking, Grandpa, Aunt Chelsea, and Ian played a few rounds of Candyland. (Ian likes many board games, but this one is his current obsession.)

After the kiddos went to bed, Uncle Jon, Aunt Chelsea, Matt, and I showed Grandpa and Grandma how to play Pandemic (the new board game Andrew & Sarah gave us). We had lots of fun playing -- and I think we even won once! :)

The next morning, I had a Sunday school meeting at church. Grandpa and Grandma happily agreed to baby-sit the boys. They did LOTS of fun things at home together. Ian showed Grandma many of the papers from his pre-K binder

...while Grandpa and Ryan did some paint-with-water pictures.

They did lots of other fun things together, including going to the playground and playing some games, which we didn't get pictures of. Then, we spent the rest of the day relaxing, playing, and chatting together.

The next day, we spent more time playing and reading at home ...

...and then it was time for something REALLY special! Our neighbors were getting a pool in their backyard, and they gave us a special invitation to come into their backyard whenever we wanted so that we could watch the big machines hard at work. (They knew JUST what our boys would like!) Grandma, Grandpa, and I spent some time watching, too. It was very interesting to watch them get the big machines into the backyard,

and to watch them prepare the area and dig the big hole.

Notice Ryan's cute habit ... twirling his hair, often with both hands!

We came back outside later in the day when the hole had been dug and the big machine was lifting the pool into place.

Mission complete! (About a week later, after Grandma and Grandpa went home, we were also able to watch the cement mixer pour the concrete for around the pool. What an exciting week!)

On Friday, Grandpa and Grandma's last day here, we did some more exciting things! After spending some time reading and playing,

we drove to Brenham to go to the Blue Bell ice cream factory. (This was Grandpa and Grandma's specially-requested outing while they were here. It was a great choice. Ian loved the factory tour, and both boys LOVED the ice cream at the end of the tour!) We started our time at Blue Bell trying on some fancy hats.

Then, we explored the exhibits in the lobby, including some interesting old-fashioned ice cream-making equipment.

We couldn't get any pictures on the tour, but it was very interesting, too. The boys especially liked the "cold chamber" that was kept at 20 degrees below zero. We walked through there quickly to feel how cold it has to be to "flash freeze" the ice cream. And, then ... the best part .... We all got to choose a Blue Bell flavor (out of about 12 choices). It was delicious! :)

Here, the guys look at ALL of the Blue Bell flavors currently in production. (While some flavors are made year-round, others are just seasonal flavors.)

Ian got cold by the end of his large bowl of ice cream, so Grandma helped to keep him warm. :)

Thank you, Grandpa and Grandma, for coming to see us! We loved every minute with you. Thank you for playing with, spoiling, and loving our boys! Thanks even for babysitting the boys a few times and helping with a few things around our house while you were visiting. Thank you for the special gifts that you gave to the boys each morning. We enjoyed the chance to catch up and spend time with you. We can't wait for you to come back to see us soon! We love you!