Baby B is a...
For the past few years, Kyle has had two long business trips in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, so I've gone home early to spend time with my family, rather than be alone in our apartment in California. Then, Kyle joins us in PA for the week of Thanksgiving! Since I had shared the news of our second pregnancy without Kyle on a trip home to PA, I knew I wanted him to be able to be a part of the gender reveal news. That meant I was going to be with my family for 9 days without Kyle without sharing the news. Plus I wanted the whole family to be together (which is super hard when there's about 20 of you), so I had to wait until Thanksgiving. That meant it was a total of 21 days of knowing whether this little B was a boy or a girl WITHOUT spilling the news. So, I lied, a lot. (Forgive me Jesus!)
All 20 (really 21) of us.. We're gonna need another new family photo next year!
My trip home was during the two week window that most woman get their gender-revealing ultrasound, so I just played it off that I was going when we got back home. I did not tell anyone in my family that we had gone to our ultrasound. Only a couple friends knew the secret because I had to tell SOMEONE! We went a lot earlier than we had gone with Max, so it wasn't that hard to believe that we were waiting. Selfishly, I knew it would be easier to keep the secret if they didn't know that I knew! While I was home, I would casually ask Max and his cousins if he thought the baby was a boy or girl. I would try to say "the baby" instead of he or she and sometimes I would purposefully say the wrong pronoun! I'm so sneaky. Ha!
Anyways, my mom had arranged for Brooke to take a new family photo of us on Thanksgiving since we would all be together. Our last photo was about 4 new family members ago! So, I figured that was the perfect time to share our news. I let Brooke in on the secret the day before and asked her if she would snap a few photos before we did our family pictures and she said yes, of course! (Thank you, Brooke!) Wednesday night, after Max had gone to bed, we gave the monitor to my dad and headed out to get some balloons. Since my dad is a man he didn't ask what we were doing and my mom was upstairs and had no idea we ever left! We snuck the balloons in that night, decorated the box and hid them inside until the next day.
On Thanksgiving, as the family was out back getting ready for photos, Kyle went upstairs to get the boy or girl box full of balloons! My mom was in the kitchen when we walked by with the box. Her jaw dropped and she screamed, "DO YOU KNOW?!" She was a bit excited! We headed out with the box and as everyone saw what it was, they were so pumped and couldn't wait to find out! I apologized to everyone I had lied to repeatedly about not knowing the gender, but they all forgave me and were ready to find out the news. The majority of them were guessing girl, but my 6 year old nephew, Stephen, was pretty sure it was going to be a boy. We got into position, got the box ready and revealed that Baby B is a ... GIRL! When the pink balloons popped out, I heard lots of excited cheers, one 6 year old's dreams being crushed, and Max saying, "Balloon! Balloon!" It was such a fun moment and I'm so thankful we got to share it with the whole family! I'm also so thankful Brooke was able to capture some fun and beautiful photos of the reveal!
I knew I wanted to use balloons for the reveal because Max loves them. His face and bright eyes in these photos did NOT disappoint! I'm not sure how much he understands about what's happening, but I know he's going to be such an amazing big brother to his baby sister!
Before our ultrasound, Kyle would always joke that "he only makes boys," but I knew if/when we had a daughter he would fall in love with her and protect her and be amazing. Even though she isn't here yet, it's already so apparent how much he loves her. He's going to be such a good dad to her, just like he is for Max, but in a different way. He's been so sweet during my pregnancy and so helpful. Him and Max are definitely going to protect and care for their ladies and we are so, so lucky.
My mom was completely convinced I was having a girl because as far back as she knows, her whole family has started with one of each gender as their first two kids! I didn't ruin her family's tradition! She was so excited to find out I was having a baby girl, especially right before our Black Friday shopping!
During Max's pregnancy, I was very sure that he was a boy from the beginning, but at the beginning of this pregnancy, I had no idea! I mostly felt the same physically, so I figured it was another boy, but I just wasn't sure. A few days before our ultrasound, I kept imagining the baby was a girl. When I would think about how to do the reveal, I always imagined pink balloons and I even had a few dreams she was a she. I didn't tell Kyle or the couple friends that knew about the ultrasound because I was a little anxious about being disappointed in the results. So, I just kept it to myself. During the ultrasound, I was pretty sure I saw little lady parts before the technician officially told us, but I didn't say anything in case I was wrong. When it was time to take the official peek at the parts, again I was 99% sure of what I was seeing. Kyle, of course, had no idea what he was looking at, but then the technician confirmed what I already knew. Baby B is a little lady! We were all so excited! (Well, Max was mostly excited to be playing with the glove balloon his dad made him, but still... the excitement was palpable!)
We cannot wait until this little lady joins us next year, but until then I will be on the lookout for baby bows, and all things pink and sweet! We are also working hard on prepping our little man to take good care of his baby sister. We love you so much already little Miss B.
Photos: Brooke Mousetis (Check out her blog here!)