Where do I even begin???

Guys! I seriously have no idea where to even begin! So much to fill you all in on, but at the same time I can not share pictures of the guys just yet so bear with me as this is a lot of words and not a ton of visual 😕

At the end of February we had the guys arrive in Florida. 😁 This was the first time our family would get to meet them and hang out with them in person. Not to mention they would get to attend a couple of appointments for Little Mac too! Let me begin by saying, this time with them was absolutely AMAZING! It could not possibly have gone any better then it did. The girls absolutely adore both guys and Ian and I really hit it off with them too. It is funny because the more time we spent with them the more we realized that one is just like myself and the other and Ian are so much alike. 😂 Kelsie was particularly smitten with one of the dads and even got mad when he would show Brynlee any attention. It was awesome to see them with my girls and to see just how natural they are with them. I know without a doubt that Little Mac is loved and blessed beyond measure to have these guys as their dads. Their love for Mac was evident during their entire visit!

As much as I was excited to see the guys finally, I was just a little nervous for the first initial visit. What would they expect, would there be enough to talk about, what if there is awkward silence or something I don't know how to answer? It was all flooding me and I knew deep down it would all be ok, but the what if's would not leave me. The guys and I decided to meet up at one of our family's favorite little resturants for lunch (the girls were at school and Ian had a big job to complete that day). I arrived a few minutes before them and went inside to get a table. It was raining that day and there had been a little break so I took the opportunity to get inside. I remember watching them run in and just the nerves melt away. We all sat down and it was such an incredible experience to be talking to one another from across the table and not just through video chat from thousands of miles away. We talked for hours...there we no awkward moments, no questions that could not be answered, we had more than enough to talk about and the time spent together was as if we had been doing this on a weekly basis for years. It was truly incredible! We were so caught up in great conversation that we all forgot to get a picture together! I had to get going because I had to get to Brynlee's school ( I volunteer in the art classroom on certain days) and then right after that is pick up time for both kiddos. Besides we had a full day planned with the guys for the next day. 

The next morning I had a routine checkup with my OB. I was so excited to have the guys there so they could finally meet my doctor, see where I go for all these appts and best of all see and hear their baby for the first time in person. I always send video and pictures, but this moment for them was highly anticipated and I could not wait to see their reactions! I was called back for the usual blood pressure, weight check etc. and the nurse asked me if we wanted to find out the gender today if Dr. Smith could tell during the ultrasound. I assured her that the guys definitely wanted to know if we could see it, but they did not want to find out by reading the blood results from the paper. She said ok and then we grabbed the guys and went into the room to wait on the doctor. The guys were so excited they couldn't even sit down while we waited. 😀 It was such a sweet moment. Dr. Smith came in just minutes later and introduced himself to the guys and got right to business. He confirmed that all our bloodwork had come back normal and that if we could see the gender today on the screen he would tell us. We got the ultrasound going and the very first thing he did was check Mac's heartbeat. It was so strong and perfect and I looked over at the guys and they were just beaming! Mac's heartbeat was 154bpm. Dr. Smith then moved the ultrasound wand just slightly and BOOM! The whole room erupted because we all knew immediately without any hesitation that Mac was a BOY!!! He (so odd to write HE) was just chillin with his hands up by his head and his ankles crossed at his feet (again) and his little boy parts were just haging out for all to see. The guys were again beaming from ear to ear and so very noticeably excited about their little boy and it just made my heart melt. I have known for a long time that I wanted to do this and I knew it would be a rewarding experience, but I never could have imagined how rewarding and how awesome of a feeling it would be. We have gained family members that we would have otherwise likely never met. Our paths probably would have never crossed, but now I could not imagine them not in our lives. Dr. Smith finished the ultrasound and gave the dads pictures and allowed them to record the heartbeat. We left the appt in tears of happiness and just overall a sense of gratitude. We followed up with lunch at Five Guys (their pick) and facetimed with all of their family. It was amazing to get to be a part of telling their entire family that Mac was a boy. The calls were mainly in French and Greek as that is what they speak, but the excitement and smiles on their faces were easily translatable. The mother of one just kept saying to me, "Merci. Thank you! Merci. Merci. Thank you!" My heart could not have been more full that day. 💓

We spent the rest of the day sight seeing, we checked out the beach, grabbed ice cream and celebratory macarons and then they came with me to pick the girls up from school. When we pulled up to the pick up line and Brynlee saw they were in the car she started jumping and bursting with excitement! The guys were so happy that she was so excited to see them. Kelsie's reaction was a little less excited at first, but she warmed up in no time. We went back to the house and just hung out. They read books with the girls, we played outside and Brynlee showed off her gymnastics. Ian got home from work and we decided to finally share the news with the girls. I had balloons filled with paint for them to pop over a couple of canvases to reveal the gender. With them being little I didn't want them throwing darts at the balloons so I just held them above the canvas and let them pop away with a pin. Well, paint went EVERYWHERE! It surely did not work like we had anticipated and we were all covered in blue paint 😂😂😂 It is surely a moment that I do not think any of us will ever forget! We did end up getting two beautiful paint splattered canvases out of it that I have some plans for once Mac is born and he has an official name! We also have little blue paint splatters on our steps out back that everytime I see I can not help but smile. Brynlee was super excited that Mac is a boy as that was her guess, but Kelsie (in true Kelsie fashion) was a little sour and in denial that it was not a girl baby like she so very much believed it would be. It took a few days, but she is now on board with the fact that Mac is a little boy and she is excited along with everyone else. 

The process was such a mess, but so worth the fun and memories!

 

This is a picture of the actual canvas the girls made that I just put a font on top of to announce it was a BOY! I can not wait to make these canvases a special keepsake for both the dads and our family!

 

We finished off the evenng with a nice home cooked meal, macarons for dessert and we all exchanged gifts. The guys gave the girls these adorable stuffed animals that they have slept with nearly every night since and Ian and I a nice bottle of wine straight from France and some other little french treats. We had gifted the guys with Belly Buds. They are essentially little speakers that adhere to my belly that allows me to safely play recordings for the baby to hear. A baby's hearing is fully developed at around 20 weeks and they start forming memories at 30 weeks. In our situation, Mac will continue to hear my family and I and recognize our voices at birth, but I wanted him to also recognize his daddies voices too. Afterall, those are the voices that will need to soothe him and that he will hear immediately after coming into this world. I was so excited about giving them this gift and hoped that they would not think it was lame and they definitely did not! They were so happy to receive such a thoughtful gift and immediately downloaded the app to their phones and linked mine and other family members to it. They are all ready to record messages to Mac and also read him children's books and I can not wait to play them for him regularly! 

Thursday's are super busy for our family so the guys took the opportunity to explore some of St. Pete and Tampa and then we met back up Friday morning for our anatomy scan. My doctor doesn't do these in the office so I scheduled mine to be where I had done my ultrasound checks while still under the clinics watch. I had created such a relationship with our ultrasound tech and she knew our story and was bummed when I was released to my OB. I knew she would love to see Little Mac again, meet the dads who we had spoken so much about and also share in this special moment with them. The appointment was incredible. She confirmed that he was still indeed a boy, heart rate was wonderful and strong and he is quite the mover and shaker in there. At one point he was literally bent in half with his toes by the top of his head and his butt just sticking out for all to see. She did all the measuring she needed to and told us that Mac was weighing about 8oz. The guys were in disbelief that he could be so very tiny still, but be so strong and active. It was great to share in their joy once again and really watch their hearts explode with love for this little boy they have yet to meet. 

Throughout their visit we spent so much time with them. I won't go through every little detail, but we enjoyed ourselves with great food, great company, much laughter, tears of happiness, serious conversation and just an all around good time. We explored Tarpon Springs, the guys held an alligator, went to their first Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game (which they loved and we won so it was perfect) and even located and booked the perfect AirBnB for their stay in July and August. We were all sad to see our visit end, but we couldn't be more excited about the future!

Just after they left town I really began to feel Mac start moving. Ian and the girls have both been able to feel his little kicks and movements and I really wish I could have shared that with the guys. Movement started while they were here but it was difficult for anyone else to catch it. He is rather active after I eat something sweet and between 9 and 10pm. It is such a great feeling to feel him throughout the day. Not too much has changed lately other then the belly getting a little bigger and sleep beginning to be a little more uncomfortable. I know the sleep thing will get much worse as time goes on so I am surely not complaining!

I am now currently 20 weeks so we are officially half way through this thing and to be honest I am a bit sad with how quickly time is flying by. The guys just keep reminding me that this is not the end, but just the beginning of our journey together. There is so much more that will come following Mac's birth. 💗

My next appt is scheduled for March 27th and I will be nearly 22 weeks then! Can't wait to see how he has grown! I also have booked and paid the deposit for our maternity session in July with the daddies and also we decided to have Mac's birth photographed. I simply can not wait to have all of these special moments captured and to be able to look back and cherish this time forever. I sent my coordinator from the agency an email last week with some updates on our journey and could not help but to thank her for such an incredible experience so far. I can not imagine a better couple to have been matched with and feel an insane amount of gratitude to be able to give them this gift. I really do not think they understand just how much this journey has done for me though in return. With that, I can not wait to see what more this journey brings!