Ultrasound Update and Party Planning!

So my thirteen week ultra sound was last week. The doctor saw what was needed to rule out the major scary things that doctors look for on an ultrasound.

Unfortunately for me, we didn't see much else. Baby B. (for Burchett) was facing my back, so all we saw was its back. No cute profile picture like I got with Lydia at 13 weeks (see the profile of Lydia with her hand by her face from 2008 to stir up a little in-utero sibling rivalry!)

There was also no suggestion of the gender because, whatever that is, it was also facing my back. I don't mind that last part because if they had seen it this early, I would have known that it was probably a boy and that would have taken some of the fun out of any gender reveal. So, at my next ultrasound, around 20 weeks, the gender should be visible regardless of what gender it is. My idea is to take an envelope along and have the doctor write the gender and seal it up for us. Then I want to have a gender reveal party where we all find out together! Here are the details that are forming in my head.

I saw this invite on Pinterest and I was in love! I already have a thing for bees (Mrs. B. and all) so I love this gender neutral theme. I'm not sure that I would bother with an invite, since it would just be family, but I do like this simple graphic.

Maybe I can make some cards with a similar design for guests to write their gender guesses. Mostly I want to coordinate a few decorations and some fun foods. If the timing is right, we are already having the family over for our annual Easter dinner. We revealed Lydia's gender at Easter, so it's kind of tradition. We already serve "Honey Baked" ham, so a bee themed desert selection could be cute and fitting at a spring event.

I'm thinking of all sorts of fun yellow and black/brown foods, like Twinkies, moon-pies, honeycomb cereal, lemon bars, yellow and black jelly beans, marshmallows with yellow sprinkles. That is probably WAY more food than I need, but fun to think of the possibilities, especially because so many don't require ME to make them!

I am kind of dying to try making these jelly bean almond bees that I found on Pinterest (more details here).  I haven't looked up the step by step directions yet, but it looks like a black jelly bean with some dark chocolate piped on for a head and a stinger.  Then some yellow chocolate stripes and two slivered almond wings.  I think these would look GREAT on lemon bars and maybe on a few cookies.  I think I would want to scatter them EVERYWHERE! 

For decorations, I am sort of obsessed with this beehive piñata. It shouldn't be too hard to make, since it IS the shape of a balloon!  I am toying with this pinata being the way we all find out the news. Here is my plan: I could make the piñata ahead of time and just not fill it myself. I could then have two different bags of confetti, one in pink and one in blue. Here is the tricky part. I need a semi-crafty and extremely discrete helper to open the envelope from the doctor and fill the piñata with the appropriate gender filling. The helper would need to not be close family who would be at the reveal. However, they would need to live near my house because I don't want to risk any extra time between the piñata being filled and the party happening. I think I would just want to deliver it the night before the party and pick it up the day of, preferably only a short time before the party. I don't trust the information being out there for long and I do NOT trust myself alone with only a paper mâché beehive standing between me and shopping for baby clothing. So that's my idea.  You can try to tell me that I am crazy, but I will just refer you to the sign below!