Gender Reveal Party

Yesterday, I attended my first ever gender reveal party.

I have to admit, when I first heard of these, I scoffed. Being a planner and someone who hates not knowing things, I couldn’t handle it. I found out the sex with all three of my pregnancies. Gender reveal parties weren’t really a thing when I was having babies so when I found out a good friend of mine was having one, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

My friend and her husband have been trying for years to have a baby. They’ve gone through miscarriages and hormone treatments and had felt discouraged many times. So the fact that they are finally having a baby is so very thrilling. She decided to find out this way because her husband, who’s a sailor in the US Navy, was temporarily deployed. And she didn’t want to find out without him.

Now I feel like an asshole for scoffing.

Anyway, I helped her sister decorate for the event. She was the one throwing the party and the one who knew the sex of the baby. She had lots of cute decorations and I could tell the suspense was killing everyone.

When it came time for the big reveal, all of the guests were provided with a can of silly string. The cans were covered so we couldn’t tell what color they were, but we knew it was blue or pink. My friend and her husband stood in the center of the room and all of the guests collectively sprayed them with the silly string.

The string was blue! It’s a boy!

While all they want is a healthy baby, they were really hoping for a boy. They both teared up and hugged and kissed and it was a very beautiful moment.

Maybe gender reveal parties aren’t so bad.

On a side note, to my friends expecting their beautiful boy, I am so incredibly excited and happy for you. You’re both going to be amazing parents and I can’t wait to meet your son. Congratulations, I love you both.

Social Media: Friend or Foe?

Back in September of last year, I decided to go off of Facebook. I did it for a variety of reasons, but was not expecting the outcome that I received.

Many were horrified that I deleted my account. I had texts from people asking if I was mad at them, people questioning why I would do such a thing. It was a little nutty.

Social media plays such an active role in our society today. Everyone shares everything. From romantic involvement to children to what they had to eat for lunch. It’s all out there for the world to see.

Being Facebook free for six months was actually pretty liberating. I didn’t realize how much time I spent on there until I didn’t have it anymore. It was hard at first, but after a week or so I didn’t even miss it. Much.

I realized that there were certain people I kept in touch with only on Facebook. Some old friends, some family. I live across the country from my siblings and they were definitely missing my pics and updates about the kids.

I’ve learned that social media is not such a bad thing, but shouldn’t be the center of your universe.

Being an aspiring writer and wanting to shamelessly promote my blog, I realized that meeting my goal would be hard if I didn’t have a Facebook. Facebook is a huge marketing tool, not just a place to keep in touch with people and post pictures of your sandwich. (I know, I was shocked too!)

So today, I signed up for Facebook again. I’m in the process of building my Momma on the Edge page on their and hoping to attract a whole new group of readers and really blow things out of the water.

Stay tuned, and look for Momma on the Edge on Facebook 😉