Girl or Boy?? Our Gender Reveal Party

Saturday was a big day.  It capped off almost two weeks of celebrations in our household.  February is kind of a busy month.  You've got Valentine's Day on the 14th, my Dad's Birthday on the 18th, Brent's Birthday on the 19th, and my Birthday on the 25th...not to mention several dear friends' birthday mixed in there too.  Lots of presents and celebrations at one time!  This year was even MORE exciting because I had "negotiated" with our PA, Bev, to find out our Baby's gender on the 23rd instead of the following Thursday on March 1st.  I told her it was all I wanted for my birthday.  Luckily she's very nice and she allowed me to get my 20 week sonogram a few days early.

Here was the initial plan...have the sonogram on the 23rd.  Have the Dr. write down the gender in a sealed envelope so we couldn't see.  I was to immediately drive the "results" to my dear friend, Ashley Wanager.  She would then call the results into Kelly Kakes in Roswell where they would dye the inside of cake either blue or pink according to the gender (I had placed a pre-order, they were just waiting on the gender).  Brent and I still would not know.  On Saturday, we would travel to Roswell to my mom's house where Brent's parents and my Dad would also meet us, pick up the cake, and Brent, Ella, Julie, Eddie, my Mom, my Dad, Jason, and I would all find out our baby's gender together when we cut open the cake at the gender reveal/birthday party on Saturday.  It was a great plan...but...I couldn't hold up my end of the deal...

You see, the night before the sonogram, I told Brent that I knew once I got into the sonogram and was watching our new little one, I would desperately want to know if I was staring at our son or our daughter.  He kind laughed and said he knew I couldn't wait until Saturday.  He also said that he was happy to find out Thursday or Saturday that he just wanted me to have my birthday turn out the way I planned it...he's so sweet!  So we decided we were going to find out then and there and do the reveal cake for everyone else on my birthday.

So...the most important things first...baby #2 looked great!  Two arms, two legs, fingers and toes, healthy heart and brain, lips, nose, ears, kidney, stomach...I'm probably leaving something out!!  Obviously the most important thing to us was knowing that girl or boy, the baby was healthy!!  After the fun of knowing everything looked as it should...she told us that Ella was having an SISTER!!!!!!!  I think my response was "Seriously!!  Are you sure??"  You see, with the two being so close in age, I really wanted Ella to have a sister.  I could just picture the two of them together...taking ballet, sharing clothes, and growing up to be best friends.  I wanted this so badly for Ella.  I also want her to have a brother too, because brother's are wonderful...but just wanted her to have a sister this go around!!  And it happened!!!  Brent's reaction went something like this...Brent has stood by his belief that we were having another girl since about the second week of this pregnancy.  He was right about Ella and he is right about this one too!!  He mentioned something about I had enough hormones "kicking" that there had to be a girl inside me causing all this ruckus...he thought that was really funny.  Any way, he was right and his reaction showed no shock at all.  It was like she just told him that the sky was blue.  He said that he is very excited, but had known the outcome all along.  It is really funny that he is going to have two girls because when we were dating, before we ever talked about marriage, we had a discussion about kids.  I told him I wanted at least one girl to do girly things with.  He said that he "only made boys"...hmmm...kind of wondering if that comment sealed his fate!  But in all honesty, I couldn't imagine Brent not having girls.  He's fabulous with Ella and she has so much fun with him.  He told me yesterday that he would like a boy in the future, but that daughters are just REALLY special.  So sweet.  I think he makes a perfect girl daddy.  So...we found out last Thursday morning we were having another little girl.  I called Kelly Kakes at noon and told them it was a girl.  She asked if I was Ashley the friend and I said, no I was Kristen the pregnant lady that ordered the cake that wasn't able to wait long enough to fulfill my own plan.  She laughed and said the cake would be ready and PINK for pick up on Saturday after noon.

So here is where we stop to talk about our parents' reactions to us finding out early.  Let me say it was so hard not tell them for 2 days.  I was busting at the seams to tell my Mom and she was a little flustered with having to wait for 2.5 days to find out what we were having.  I think she said something like this gender reveal party wasn't fair and was slightly disappointed that I hadn't stuck to the plan...she was mostly kidding though and was actually a really good sport and waited patiently until Saturday!!  Brent's parents were full of anticipation and were just eager to find out...especially since we already knew.  Jason told me I was a sell-out for not waiting until the party to find out with everyone else.  And my dad was fine either way...I think he was a little confused with the concept of a gender reveal party until he got there and saw everything.

Saturday morning I decorated the kitchen table for the event.  I bought all my decor at the Dollar Tree and Michael's $1.00 bins.  I'd say for being so low budget it turned out really cute.  We went out for a late Birthday lunch, picked up the cake, I showered and it was already nearly 5 o'clock which was suppose to be the time we were eating (we thought we'd have an early dinner so we could have cake sooner).    Well, we couldn't wait any longer and no one was hungry because there was so much anticipation so we decided to do the cake first!!  P.s. Let me tell you...the cake was gorgeous!!  Kelly Kakes in Roswell did a fabulous job!!  Please ignore the shadows in the picture above.  We just got a new high tech camera and am pretty sure there was something we should have done to make the shadows go away, but we are just amateurs.  So it's kind of disappointing how the pictures turned out.

Girl or boy??  We soon shall see!

Boy guessing tin...put the clothes pin in
if you're guessing boy!

Girl guessing tin...put the clothes pin in if
you are guessing girl!

So around 5:10 p.m. all our family cast their guesses into the girl or boy jars.  Here was the final tally

GIRL: 0
BOY: 5

Jason putting the clothes pin in BOY!

The boy tin is full!!

Not one single guess for girl! All the clothes pins still remain!!

Clearly everyone was convinced at that point it was a girl.  Julie and Eddie said they had thought girl up until the reveal day.  Eddie thought he saw blue through the cake and changed his guess and Julie changed her mind based on a couple of things I had said that day.  Jason swore I called the baby HE on the phone.  And my Mom thought BOY too because I had mentioned something about Ella dishing the rough housing, but not wanting to receiving it from her sibling and immediately associated rough housing with a boy.  My Dad said he felt like the majority had to be on to something.

So...After the guesses were cast.  Brent and I cut the cake!  It was PINK and everyone was shocked!!!  I was so fun to watch everyone's reaction!!   They couldn't have been more excited and it was so fun having everyone there.  Ella was super excited to have all her grandparents and Uncle Jason there and went into entertaining mode.  She ran up and down the kitchen doing really cute things while she smiled and laughed.  She was a character!!  I think she is really pumped about having a sister!  The only thing missing from the day was Uncle Brandon and wish he could have been there with us too :(

Family pic pre-cake cut

cutting the cake

It's pink!!!!

yay!!

Come join the party, doggies!!

Ella and Nana celebrating!

Ella loved the cake!!

Pumped to have a little sis!!

Brent with 3 girls sitting on him!!

At this point I busted out the pink signature cocktail drink which everyone compared to pink lemonade hunch punch....but all agreed it was very delicious.  We talked and laughed and had a great time!!  Everyone admitted that even though waiting had been hard that they really loved the reveal party and agreed that they were so glad we did it like that even though we already knew!

Dad and Jason with the pink drink

Eddie with the pink drink!

Mother-Daughter pic!

Grandmothers with the pink drink!

Grandfathers with the pink drink!

Brent and Uncle J...with the pink drink!

Papa, Brent, Kristen (+Baby), Mimi, and Ella

Grandpa, Uncle J, Brent, Kristen (+Baby), Ella, and Nana

Later, we ate some of my Mom's delicious lasagna and had birthday cupcakes.  We were stuffed to the brim, but all very happy.  What a special birthday.  I am certain that it will always be one of the most, if not the most memorable Birthday ever!!!  SO the gender reveal party was a success and I highly recommend having one.  It was just really awesome to see the look on everyone's face when they found out.  What a wonderful occasion to celebrate.  We'd like to sincerely thank our families for making the day so amazing and for always being as excited for the special things that happen in our life as we are.  We are truly blessed and love you dearly. XOXO!

Ella and Papa

Waiting to cut the cake

Ella found her belly button at the party

Seriously...come join the party, doggies!

I guess they're not coming

Delicious Birthday cupcakes form Cloud 9

I'd also like to thank everyone for the sweet birthday texts, phone calls, FB posts and congratulatory wishes.  It meant the world to think of each on you on such a special day!

SO....... WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!