Being a US Navy family, we move around often. I was very lucky to be only 3 hours from my home town in Florida when I was pregnant with my oldest, but now here I am 25 weeks pregnant with my second and 14 hours away from my momma! Once of my biggest fears is my mom not being there with us when this baby comes, she has such an amazing relationship with my oldest and I firmly believe it was because she was there in the room when he was born. I still haven't figured out a resolution for getting her paid days off from work and timing her trip to where she can be here in time for the delivery, which happens when it wants! lol But I have made the most of sharing my pregnancy with family and friends from afar!
The Announcement:
When we found out we were pregnant we already had an awesome custom embroidered t-shirt made for our son that said "I'm gonna be a big brother" and it had his name on it! One of my recent Photography props I made from one of my Trash to freasure projects was these awesome chalk boards. So I did a shoot with him in his new shirt and with a chalk board. I coordinated a convenient time for an oovoo date with my mom & dad and my husband's mom & step dad...amazingly we were all able to be in the same video chat at the same time...Oovoo is the best for this! All at the same time I gave them a link to visit that was an online album with the photos from the shoot, then we sent the pictures to our closest friends and family, then we made it public on facebook!
The Announcement:
When we found out we were pregnant we already had an awesome custom embroidered t-shirt made for our son that said "I'm gonna be a big brother" and it had his name on it! One of my recent Photography props I made from one of my Trash to freasure projects was these awesome chalk boards. So I did a shoot with him in his new shirt and with a chalk board. I coordinated a convenient time for an oovoo date with my mom & dad and my husband's mom & step dad...amazingly we were all able to be in the same video chat at the same time...Oovoo is the best for this! All at the same time I gave them a link to visit that was an online album with the photos from the shoot, then we sent the pictures to our closest friends and family, then we made it public on facebook!
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The First Heartbeat:
My midwife allowed me to record the heartbeat when she was listening for it during my 8 week prenatal visit. After the appointment was over I sent it to the grandparents via multimedia message and they loved it, my mother-in-law even said it made her get teary eyed!! Helps make them feel closer and apart of the pregnancy!
Names:
We like to have names picked before we know the gender so that from the day we know the gender we also have a name. Last pregnancy we made our decision the night before the ultrasound, so when I was in the ultrasound and Cody was in El Salvador on deployment he called and got to hear the heartbeat and I was able to tell him "that would be your son, Karter Paul Wachs." Well this time around we were talking about names before we were even pregnant so we had our minds made up at 12 weeks pregnant. I wanted to share the news in a more interesting way then a Facebook Status and we came up with a fun way to not only share the news but to give show them our original list and make it a game where they get to guess as their looking through the album.
My midwife allowed me to record the heartbeat when she was listening for it during my 8 week prenatal visit. After the appointment was over I sent it to the grandparents via multimedia message and they loved it, my mother-in-law even said it made her get teary eyed!! Helps make them feel closer and apart of the pregnancy!
Names:
We like to have names picked before we know the gender so that from the day we know the gender we also have a name. Last pregnancy we made our decision the night before the ultrasound, so when I was in the ultrasound and Cody was in El Salvador on deployment he called and got to hear the heartbeat and I was able to tell him "that would be your son, Karter Paul Wachs." Well this time around we were talking about names before we were even pregnant so we had our minds made up at 12 weeks pregnant. I wanted to share the news in a more interesting way then a Facebook Status and we came up with a fun way to not only share the news but to give show them our original list and make it a game where they get to guess as their looking through the album.
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Now I did have to remind everyone we WERE NOT having twins, that we just had a name picked out for each gender and we chose to have them both have the same nick name, so from that day on it was "Baby Kris!"
Gender Reveal
This one was a tough one, my husband did not want to find out the gender, he wanted a boy and I wanted a girl and he said we should just not find out at all! I NEEDED to know, so he came up with something creative to make it more interesting for when we did find out...I think ultimately he wanted proof of me crying if it wasn't a girl! lol Gender Reveal Parties are the big hit right now, but again since our friends and family are so far away we couldn't a big party to share the news so we were gonna do a Gender Reveal Shoot...well he didn't want us to find out until the shoot! So we had the ultrasound tech right it on a card and seal it up and our shoot was scheduled for the next day due to lighting, so I brought the card to a friend along with all the supplies and she prepared the box for our shoot. That 24 hours of waiting was such an anticipation builder, I hardly slept that night! I ofcourse took my own pictures but I had my friend take a video of it. We shared the video & pictures with our family to reveal the news and then the photos with our friends and finally made it official on Facebook! -Note last picture...my husband expression still cracks me up!! Oh and I didn't cry! :)
This one was a tough one, my husband did not want to find out the gender, he wanted a boy and I wanted a girl and he said we should just not find out at all! I NEEDED to know, so he came up with something creative to make it more interesting for when we did find out...I think ultimately he wanted proof of me crying if it wasn't a girl! lol Gender Reveal Parties are the big hit right now, but again since our friends and family are so far away we couldn't a big party to share the news so we were gonna do a Gender Reveal Shoot...well he didn't want us to find out until the shoot! So we had the ultrasound tech right it on a card and seal it up and our shoot was scheduled for the next day due to lighting, so I brought the card to a friend along with all the supplies and she prepared the box for our shoot. That 24 hours of waiting was such an anticipation builder, I hardly slept that night! I ofcourse took my own pictures but I had my friend take a video of it. We shared the video & pictures with our family to reveal the news and then the photos with our friends and finally made it official on Facebook! -Note last picture...my husband expression still cracks me up!! Oh and I didn't cry! :)
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Registry/Baby Shower:
I have only lived in Maryland for 8 months now, I do have a lot of friends here but I don't know that I have any close enough, who also have any extra time, who would throw a baby shower for me. I also don't know that it's that neccessary since I'm having another boy. I did get rid of alot of infant clothing back when I could still remember my pregnancy, labor and delivery and swore I would never get pregnant again...and then somewhere around 9 months in it finally dawned on me I may use this again. We also are taking on a new adventure into Cloth Diapering this time around so I'm in need of things there. However my husband and I are slowly buying things as they go on sale and as we can afford them. I did make a registry on Amazon so that if any friends and family did want to make any purchases they can see what we need and have it shipped right to our house from the comfort of their own couch! With my son I had like 4 registries at different stores and I never kept up with any of them, it was fun running around with the gun the first day and then I don't remeber anything after that. With this Amazon registry I'm constantly on it, adding things, removing things, checking current pricing...so the things I like most about a Amazon Baby Registry:
-Easy to Access - for family and for us - a simple search on Amazon Baby registries and our family can find it and for us it's part of our account, off on the right hand side there's a drop down menu under wish list and just hit Baby Registry - that's how I started it and also how I acess it anytime!
-Notes - once something is added to the registry hit "edit comments, quantity & Priority." This is a nice feature because I can state what the product is for, where I plan to have it, when and/or how long I'll use it, etc.
-Quantity Editing - I believe most registries you can request 12 bottles but if you have 12 on your Babies R Us registry and someone buys you a 4 pack at walmart, your Babies R Us registry doesn't show it. So here I can say quantity desired is 12, if I receive 4 I can edit it saying 4 were received, once the desired amount is reached Amazon adds it to the Purchased Items List - which is still viewable by anyone or myself!
-Priority - I can edit the priority of an item based on: Must Have, Like To Have, Nice to Have. In the screen capture below you can see the rash cream comes up "Must Have", yet the carseat shows no priority because I have it listed as "Nice to Have." (I have 3 carseats in different stages that have all passed inspection, I WANT the safest for my kids so I'm saving my pennies for it but it's not a NEED!)
-Categories - I'm a organizational freak, so I especially love how I can chage the categories on the items. For instance Diapers come up under Diapering Category, but the diaper rash cream came up under Bathing & Skin Care...I can select Change Category, select Diapering and it'll move down to the diapering Category.
I have only lived in Maryland for 8 months now, I do have a lot of friends here but I don't know that I have any close enough, who also have any extra time, who would throw a baby shower for me. I also don't know that it's that neccessary since I'm having another boy. I did get rid of alot of infant clothing back when I could still remember my pregnancy, labor and delivery and swore I would never get pregnant again...and then somewhere around 9 months in it finally dawned on me I may use this again. We also are taking on a new adventure into Cloth Diapering this time around so I'm in need of things there. However my husband and I are slowly buying things as they go on sale and as we can afford them. I did make a registry on Amazon so that if any friends and family did want to make any purchases they can see what we need and have it shipped right to our house from the comfort of their own couch! With my son I had like 4 registries at different stores and I never kept up with any of them, it was fun running around with the gun the first day and then I don't remeber anything after that. With this Amazon registry I'm constantly on it, adding things, removing things, checking current pricing...so the things I like most about a Amazon Baby Registry:
-Easy to Access - for family and for us - a simple search on Amazon Baby registries and our family can find it and for us it's part of our account, off on the right hand side there's a drop down menu under wish list and just hit Baby Registry - that's how I started it and also how I acess it anytime!
-Notes - once something is added to the registry hit "edit comments, quantity & Priority." This is a nice feature because I can state what the product is for, where I plan to have it, when and/or how long I'll use it, etc.
-Quantity Editing - I believe most registries you can request 12 bottles but if you have 12 on your Babies R Us registry and someone buys you a 4 pack at walmart, your Babies R Us registry doesn't show it. So here I can say quantity desired is 12, if I receive 4 I can edit it saying 4 were received, once the desired amount is reached Amazon adds it to the Purchased Items List - which is still viewable by anyone or myself!
-Priority - I can edit the priority of an item based on: Must Have, Like To Have, Nice to Have. In the screen capture below you can see the rash cream comes up "Must Have", yet the carseat shows no priority because I have it listed as "Nice to Have." (I have 3 carseats in different stages that have all passed inspection, I WANT the safest for my kids so I'm saving my pennies for it but it's not a NEED!)
-Categories - I'm a organizational freak, so I especially love how I can chage the categories on the items. For instance Diapers come up under Diapering Category, but the diaper rash cream came up under Bathing & Skin Care...I can select Change Category, select Diapering and it'll move down to the diapering Category.
Now I haven't actually received anything from any of my friends of family that ordered direct from my Amazon registry, so I'm not exactly positive if the quantities will change when someone does. I have received gifts in the past from Amazon before and they come very nicely wrapped with a card and gift receipt/packing slip with no price listed!
As for those who want to have a babyshower from afar, I would suggest a virtual baby shower. Send out invites via the mail, e-mail, or create a facebook event. Create a registry and have any gifts sent but the parents are not allowed to open them till the shower. Using a video chat program like Oovoo (www.oovoo.com) you can chat with up to 12 people at one time under a free account, so make sure all who would like to be in attendence have an account set up and are ready to go when the party time begins. You can play a couple shower games, and open up presents then enjoy some cupcakes while you sit and chat with everyone! If you are a real planner you can even sent out shower party favors ahead of time maybe even stuff with the party theme, and a maternity or ultrasound picture so everyone can have a feel of the party at their home...it will really help bring everyone together!!
As for those who want to have a babyshower from afar, I would suggest a virtual baby shower. Send out invites via the mail, e-mail, or create a facebook event. Create a registry and have any gifts sent but the parents are not allowed to open them till the shower. Using a video chat program like Oovoo (www.oovoo.com) you can chat with up to 12 people at one time under a free account, so make sure all who would like to be in attendence have an account set up and are ready to go when the party time begins. You can play a couple shower games, and open up presents then enjoy some cupcakes while you sit and chat with everyone! If you are a real planner you can even sent out shower party favors ahead of time maybe even stuff with the party theme, and a maternity or ultrasound picture so everyone can have a feel of the party at their home...it will really help bring everyone together!!
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