It’s official: the bean is a GIRL! And we couldn’t be more excited.
Well, actually, Burger’s a bit oblivious to it all.
We found out on the day before Christmas Eve (December 23rd) thanks to some Oscar-worthy pleading to the doc (she wanted us to come in on the 30th but we were dying to tell our families in time for the holidays).
Best. Christmas. Gift. Ever.
And lucky for us, baby beanette wasn’t shy and we got the most obvious shot of “the goods” that you can get. Woo hoo! (or should I say woo hoo-ha?). We originally thought we wanted the tech to write down boy or girl in an envelope and then go directly out to a special one-on-one Merry Christmas dinner afterwards to rip it open (before heading off to spend the next four days with family).
But when we thought about having to avert our eyes during that part of her scan (so as not to ruin the envelope surprise later) we both realized that we didn’t want to miss a moment of gazing at the bean while she did her cute womb thing. We literally didn’t think we were capable of turning our heads away for a second (especially since it might be the last ultrasound of Sherry’s entire pregnancy) so we decided to heck with the envelope- let’s find out right then and there. So that’s how Sherry (with goo on her belly) and I (on the edge of my seat) learned that we were going to have a daughter. And yes I kissed my beaming wife right there on the table in front of the tech. It was such an exciting moment.
But the plot thickens. Since we love surprises, we hadn’t told any of our family members that we’d scored that last-minute pre-Christmas appointment. They all thought we were finding out around the 30th when Sherry truly hit the 20 week mark. So after a romantic celebratory dinner full of name chatter and nursery brainstorming, we hit the grocery store for gingerbread cookie mix and pink icing to prepare for our big family reveal on Christmas Eve the very next day.
While the gingerbread girls that we made won’t win any cookie-decorating awards, they did the trick when it came to breaking the news to our family. As soon as we showed up to my parents’ house in Northern Virginia on Christmas Eve (after tiling the bathroom all day we were able to conveniently time our arrival right for dessert) I announced that we’d brought a special treat: “Surprise! We made gingerbread cookies in honor of the bean…” Sherry continued: “…and we learned yesterday that we should make them ALL PINK!!!!”
Shouting, jumping, and general merriment/pandemonium ensued. We had officially surprised the heck out of everyone and they were all thrilled. The entire crowd – especially our niece Olivia – was extremely excited to be adding a baby girl to the pair of baby boys that my sisters brought into the world in 2009. So naturally, everyone expressed their excitement by gobbling down the cookies in record time. Which was festive and fun- as long as that’s not the reaction our little lady elicits when she comes into the world next Spring.
And since I know we’re bound to get showered with girl-specific advice and/or questions, we should say upfront that (1) yes, this makes the name brainstorming much easier but we’re not planning to settle on anything (or share our contenders) ’til we meet our little bundle of baby in May and (2) despite all the pink themes in this post, we’re leaning toward a less gender specific color scheme for the nursery (think greens, blues, and yellows with a dash of pink here and there). Although now it’s really fun to think through some feminine accents and DIY details to make the room feel sweet and baby girl specific (but those with baby boys shouldn’t discount our nursery project completely since there will be lots of boy or girl adaptable ideas).
Enough about Baby P- we’d love to hear your stories about your big exciting boy/girl reveal (whether via ultrasound or via birth). Heck a super close family friend of ours just welcomed two beautiful twin girls into the world after believing there was only one in there for nine whole months (she didn’t want to find out beforehand or even have an ultrasound so it was a huuuuge surprise!). Oh and feel free to divulge your “it’s a girl!’ or “it’s a boy!” reveals as well – it’s so much fun to picture how such a major moment was shared with family and friends.
JayeLeigh says
Congrats!! We waited to find out for our first – Daddy announced that the baby was a girl when she came into the world! We were so surprised since we really thought it would be a boy for some reason. But little girls are so much fun! :)
Newly pregnant with #2, and trying to decide if we want to find out or not when the time comes – and then if we should keep it a secret or not! Either way, baby’s name won’t be announced till he or she is born!
Ashley says
Woohoo for baby girls!! Our 20 week ultrasound tech seemed 80% positive that ours was a girl, and today (at 35 weeks) we had another ultrasound thanks to an Aunt who has a technician friend. They confirmed that she’s definitely a girl, and even showed us that she’ll be born with hair on her head!
shelby says
I found out with my 1st it was a girl and with my 2nd it was a surprise girl. although fun, i dont think i could do it again!
rebecca says
Congrats! I could NOT be more excited for you! What an incredible gift… we’re expecting our first in August (so far away!) and have been saying that we’re going to wait until she is born to know for sure. But already, I think I know.
Sherry, did you have any idea? Like some weird mother-sense that you have a baby girl living inside of you? (sorry if that sounds too sci-fi, but i am still overwhelmed by the whole concept)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Rebecca,
Yup, I somehow knew all along it was a girl bean in there. John kept saying it was a 50/50 chance (he’s such a guy- and you know how they love to use reasoning and logic), but every single old wives tale (about morning sickness, the way I was carrying, the baby’s heartbeat) pointed definitively to girl. So for some reason I was convinced! Plus we had such an influx of boy babies in our family I think my brain reasoned that girl odds were somehow higher for us just to even things out. Sure enough, when the ultrasound tech said “what are your guesses?” I said “I know it’s a girl” and John said “I’ll guess boy just to keep it interesting.” The tech turned to John and said “well, you’re wrong!” Haha. We were both thrilled though. Speechless even. We just wanted a clean bill of health for our little one so we would have been happy with either gender, but there’s just something so sweet about a little baby girl that still has us grinning from ear to ear weeks later.
xo,
s
Cara S says
Very exciting! We have decided to wait to find out the sex for our first one, and I have to say, it’s been super fun not knowing. It’s thrilling to realize that we’ll know any day now. (Literally. I’m having contractions as I type!)
Shauna says
Congrats! Baby girls are so much fun (and soooo much more fun to shop for!)
We told my family by making cupcakes, drawing a question mark on the top with mini chocolate chips and filling the center with pink icing. I’ll never forget that excitement.
Lacey says
Ohhhhh, a girl! Congratulations!!! I find out the sex of my first on Feb. 2, and I can’t wait.
TG says
Wishing you both a happy, healthy baby girl. I am excited for you both…I had a lot of elderly people tell me I was carrying a boy. We only had a boys name when he was born.
Do you have little toy drill for her yet?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey TG,
Too funny! We’ll have to find a toy drill and a toy hammer asap! Preferably made out of something soft so they’re not used as weapons…
xo,
s
Miki says
Congrats!
We didn’t want to know the sex of our baby before birth. We let the Ultrasound tech know this ahead of time and she told us to turn our heads while she went “down south.”
After her examination, she told us we could look again. She then began pointing out features saying “Ohh there’s HIS hand, there’s HIS nose.” My husband quickly asked the tech why she was using gender specific wording, and she replied “I can’t call them an ‘it’!” I was fuming since we truly wanted a surprise.
We went on with our pregnancy not officially knowing, but having a good idea of what we were having. Sure enough, we had a BOY!
Gloria says
Congratulations!!
Ashley says
Congratulations!! Our family welcomed our first baby girl to our family last February and I can gurantee you never have a dull moment with little ladies :) She is the apple of our eye and she knows it! We found out at 20 weeks, and our ultrasound tech put it on a DVD for us to show to our families. The tech wrote “it’s a girl!” on one of the screen shots and that’s how they found out. Can’t wait to see the nursery!
Erin @ Fierce Beagle says
We didn’t find out our baby’s gender ahead of time. When the big arrival happened, the doctor yelled “It’s a girl!” And then one of the nurses said, “Uhh…doctor?” And she took a second look and yelled, “No, it’s a BOY!” He came out very modestly, with his little legs crossed ;)
heidi says
congratulations!!!!
We just found out we’re having a boy. believe it or not we had it written down in an envelope for 9 weeks!!! my husband wanted to wait until christmas morning…we had a nice, quiet reveal – just the two of us – and then got to share with his entire family. Completely agree…
best.christmas.gift.ever.
and i too, had a pretty strong feeling of the gender. guess it’s mother’s intuition. Enjoy!
Amanda says
Congratulations, that’s so exciting!
Terri A says
Congratulations!!
CarMaj says
Congrats!! No baby in the works yet but what a cute idea to share the news with your family! SO happy for you :o)
candace says
Many congratulations!! What wonderful news! Happy Dances and High Fives all around!
Bethany O'Brien says
Congrats!!!!! What fun news, and fun way to tell everyone, love the cookie idea!
Shauna says
Congratulations!! What a sweet surprise!
I gave birth to a little boy last July 4th (what an exciting birthday!!) and we didn’t know until the birth what we were having. Toward the end of my pregnancy I sorta suspected that it would be a boy though because I kept referring to the baby as him, his, he. I told my husband that I expected it to be a boy, but if it was a girl I would be shocked. When our baby was born, I was too out of it to really care either way (drug-free delivery not by choice. ouch!!) so the big moment fell a bit flat (for me anyway). My husband was shocked since he was positive it would be a girl. We couldn’t be more thrilled with our little boy though!
I have to say, I love your blog!!! …but after having a baby of my own recently, I’m very curious to see how your blog evolves once the baby is born. I never anticipated (even in my wildest dreams) how much time and effort would be required to care for a baby. My little boy is six months today, and I’m just now figuring out how to function on a daily basis with a baby in tow. Finding the time to even shower has been a challenge, never-mind working (which I don’t) or doing home decorating or home improvement projects (which I would love to get back to doing). Your blog has been an inspiration in the home decorating department, and I look forward to some inspiration in the baby juggling department as well!!
Cheers!
Briel K. says
Yay, a girl! I’m glad you guys shared that with us. :) I look forward to finding out her name, as I’m sure you do! It’s funny, a friend of mine was pregnant and had a boys name all picked out but when he was born they decided he wasn’t Max at all and they named him Ronen. Just goes to show that sometimes you have to meet your little one before you can settle on the right name. :)
Shirley says
Congratulations! I can’t wait to see what you all have planned! Congrats again!!! =D
Jaimie says
We didn’t find out ahead of time whether we were having a boy or a girl. We told the doctors and nurses that we wanted my husband to be the one to announce the big news in the delivery room. From the beginning of my pregnancy, my husband was convinced that I was carrying a boy (he had similar reasoning to Sherry’s – we already had several girls in the family and he thought we were ‘due’ for a boy!) When my son was born, the excitement of a new baby arriving in the world swept my husband away — I had to ask him “is it a boy or a girl???” And he said “It’s a boy!”
As for nursery design, we knew that even if we had a girl we wouldn’t opt for a pretty-pink-princess room, so we went with a gender-neutral pale aqua/white/chocolate/grey room that will hopefully be suitable for any future children as well.
Carmen says
We told one set of parents(who live out of town) by sending them a Congrats, it’s a girl balloon bouquet. the card said “Can’t wait to meet you Grampa and Gramma, love Samantha.” of course my parents were confused at first until they read the card. they were super excited. the other set we bought a cake and had written on it, “it’s a girl”. took it over to the inlaws house and they too were surprised. for our son, we flew home for the weekend the day that i had my ultrasound and i told my parents that i would wear a blue shirt for a boy, pink for a girl or yellow if we couldn’t tell. my parents were waiting for us and as i turned to go down the escalator, i was wearing a blue shirt…my parents were again excited.
Meredith says
Congrats on the news! How exciting!
I am so glad we went with a nursery that was fairly gender neutral–there WAS pink, but it was all in smaller details like the linens that could easily be switched out. Why? I was positive we were having a boy all along, at our 21 week ultrasound they said girl, at our 30-something ultrasound they said “we’re actually thinking boy”, and then at a subsequent ultrasound the tech did some serious looking and confirmed that she is very confident the Lizard is a girl.
Still, it’s nice to know that should we be surprised on delivery day, it would be easy as pie to switch out the nursery to be boy friendly!
amyks says
Congrats, Congrats, Comgrats! We have a baby girl in May 2000…a boy in January 2002 and another girl in July 2005.
It is so amazing. We found out the gender during the ultrasounds with all 3. I was considered high risk for all three of my pregnancies, so we had a lot..and I mean a lot of ultrasounds, every 2 weeks actually. Anyway, we knew for each one, but never told anyone until the big arrival. It was very hard to keep it a secret, but it was so worth it. Sending you lots and lots of well wishes.
Sandra says
I think I’m just a week ahead of Sherry, and we just found out that it’s a boy. We couldn’t be happier! It’ll be the first grandson after three granddaughters on my side of the family. And it’ll be the first boy in 11 years on my husband’s side!
We painted the nursery over the break. Went with Pewter Mug by Behr (which looks a lot more blue in the room, but certainly still a blue gray) but we used your Flint Smoke recommendation as our starting point.
Katherine @ Grass Stains says
I am a mom of three boys, and we share the house with my husband and a male cat. I LOVE having all boys around me, but it would be fun to have a girl, too! If I ever did have a girl, my first-choice names are Amelia and Piper. Congratulations!!
Caitlin @ That House On The Corner says
Congrats! That is such a cute way of telling your family!
Sierra Nething says
Congrats!!! I’m so very happy for you two! I can’t wait to have a little girl of my own one day. It’s so much fun to read posts through steps along the way in your pregnancy. It will prepare me for my own little one one day hopefully soon!
Mary says
We found out at our 20 week ultrasound (which was done around 18 weeks, I just couldn’t wait). I work in obstetrics so I actually saw the little parts before the tech. I told her it was a girl and she got upset with me and told me we weren’t even in that area yet! I kept repeating, it’s a girl, I saw the 3 lines”. She milked it for a few more minutes and then said, “well it looks like mommy’s right, it’s a girl.” Duh lady, I just said that. Kind of ruined the moment because she was so deadset on telling us and didn’t want me to ruin it for her! Afterwards my husband told me he was impressed I could tell because he pretty much had no idea what he was looking at the whole time! :) Little girls are the best! You’ll have a blast.
srabee says
congratulations. that is super cute and your baby will be too.
Heather says
OH YAY!!! Congrats! So happy you are having a girl! Almost everyone in my life has been having boys, so I was crossing my fingers that you would say GIRL!!! I know you just wanted the bean to be healthy, but your loyal fans can still wish, right? LOL! Congrats again, I wish you a very happy, healthy remainder of your pregnancy!
Mary Beth says
Hurray for baby girls! Due on May 20th, our ultra-sound should have been on the 31st, but we had the same conversation with our dr. and we managed to squeeze into an afternoon appointment on Christmas Eve!! Since we hosted everyone this year, we didn’t have a lot of time in between the appointment and dinner, so picked out a little frame to put the “It’s a ____” card in (yes, we did the card in the envelope thing) and wrapped it up when we got home. Over appetizers, we had my brother and his wife open the package and reveal that It’s a GIRL! SO SO excited!
While we, too, are going to try to stay away from pink everywhere, I do have a soft pink/white geometric crib skirt fabric that I love picked out and am going to try my hand at your tutorial from earlier this year. :)
Congrats again on your sweet girl!!
Ashley M. [at] (never home)maker says
Awww! This is awesome! Aaaaannnnd you’re the only preggers people I know (and know of) who are having a little girl. So many boys around us right now. But congrats! Super exciting news!
Marisa says
SO MANY CONGRATS! I can’t wait to meet Baby Girl P.! :-D
Alaina @ LiveCreatingYourself says
Yay baby Beanette! Now I REALLY can’t wait to see the nursery.
Congrats again.
Alaina
amanda says
Congratulations! My husband actually sent me the link to your blog over the holidays, as we are adding on an addition and need decorating ideas.
We have a beautiful 4 1/2 month old baby girl. She is a great baby. Little girls are just oodles of fun. We didn’t find out what we were having, and painted our nursery an aqua blue (Crystal Aqua by Valspar, to be exact). We wanted something gender neutral anyway since you never know what baby #2 or #3 will be. Enjoy the pregnancy! Looking forward to seeing your nursery decor.
Sarah says
Congratulations!! Are you and Katie Bower planning Baby Girl P and Will’s first date already? :)
Rebecca Foxworth says
We’ve set up nurseries in two houses.
The first was more gender-neutral colors, blue/light green/yellow. Our little girl was definitely not surrounded by pink (we didn’t know we were having a girl…story in my second comment, to follow).
The second one was much more well thought out once we found out we were having a girl. We knew Murphy’s Law and that if we went all Pepto Bismol on the room it would guarantee that we would get pregnant with a boy within weeks of giving birth and we would have to repaint.
So we found a gender-neutral green and painted the walls with it. We saved the pinks (raspberry and light pink, both) for trim, curtains, bedding, wall hangings, etc.). We got to have plenty of pink in there, knowing that if a surprise boy came along later we could change the raspberry and light pink accents and trim to tan and blue (green, tan, and blue = boy room) without too much effort.
That’s what worked for us.
I understand the desire to not go too over the top pink, but just know that this may be your only girl. There may never be another time to indulge your fluffy pink side (yeah, I didn’t think I had one either…and then we met Julia and about six weeks into her life we found out we did have a need for pink stuff…though not much fluffy stuff…after all). I’m just sayin’ don’t keep it too gender neutral, that’s all. We regret that about our first girl…not enough pink (though in our defense we didn’t know it was a girl, but didn’t buy much pink stuff once we knew she was).
Beth says
Yeah! Little girls are the best, but I’m a little biased…
Since our daughter is adopted we found out she’d be coming our way, that she was a girl and that she was due in just five short weeks all in one shot. Our sweet birth parents filled a basket with gifts for her and our case worker delivered it to our front porch. After 13 months of waiting for a birth mom to select us as her adoptive family the whole thing felt amazing. The fact it happened just the day before hubby’s b-day made it even better!
That whole day is such a sweet memory so I can imagine your excitement at finding out your news. Congratulations!
Megan says
Congratulations!!! We found out we are expecting our 3rd little boy just before Thanksgiving but waited to tell everyone for Christmas. We were going to keep it a surprise until the end but once being in the seat and the baby being on the big screen it was hard to look away (we found out the first two as soon as we could). I was hoping for a little girl this time around but at least with a third boy we have been through it all and know what to expect with another little guy around! Best of luck to the both of you, she will change your life in more ways than you can imagine!
Amelia says
congrats!
even though my guess was wrong, so happy for you two and beanette :-)
Rosi T says
Heh! When my momma was having my Twin and I.. they told her my twin was a boy because she was camera shy and she looked to be a boy but they knew I was a girl all along. So they picked out two names for her so at least they would of had an idea of a name when she popped out! I was however, always my name and I had no boy name picked out. It was a nice surprise when she popped out! It is also funny to hear that I popped out first when I was suppose to be second since I was higher up and she was more down. Apparently I pushed her out of the way :).
Sarah @ Dream In Domestic says
Awww! Congratulations! You two are going to make the best parents! Thanks for sharing with us!
Renae says
Congrats to you guys!! Love the kissing on the ultrasound table…why not?! :)
Our reveals came like this, “Oh my God, it’s a boy!” The OMG part came because everyone on my mom’s side of the family had a girl and then a boy, no exceptions. I must take after either my dad’s side of the family who have boys first (actually some have only boys) or my husbands side which includes his older brother, then him (and a sister 12 years later). For my second baby it was something like, “It’s another boy!” To which I immediately responded, “It’s okay, we can try again!” We haven’t progressed to that stage yet as we’re happy as clams with our little bowl of testosterone here. So yep, we’re old-fashioned and didn’t want to find out beforehand. I guess we just like surprises!! Which probably leads you to believe correctly that our nursery was very gender neutral being tan and red, to which we have added navy and plaids, and cars of course! :) Vroom, vroom…
Katie B. says
YAY! I am so excited for you!! We also found out (on Dec 18) that it’s a GIRL for us too! I had a sneaky feeling you were having a girl. This way, your baby and baby bower can be betrothed forever :) ha.
Anyway…I thought I’d share our gender-reveal day fun…that is, if you have time and all (which, it seems you guys are the busiest people on EARTH!)…
anyway :)
http://katieballa.blogspot.com/2009/12/newsi-got-newsand-sorry-so-late.html
Kara says
Yay!! Little baby girls are the biggest blessing!! I have one myself. :)
We didn’t find out her gender… and I was 99.99% she was a BOY. I even referred to her as “him” all through my pregnancy and painted the nursery BLUE…. (BM’s Woodlawn Blue… at least it looks very cute with pink accents!)
Jen @ homeinthecountry says
Congrats!
We’re expecting a little one later this summer, but have decided not to find out… (we figure the nursery + big baby purchases will be neutral anyways!). It’s kind of awesome that you knew it was a girl all along (I have my suspicions that ours is a boy…).
And we’re totally keeping the name secret, too. Because people can be crazy mean if they don’t like the name that you pick! :)
Katie B. says
Oh, and I just read your comment on there about knowing its a girl and all! I am totally with you. My husband did the same thing. I knew it was a girl–and I followed the wivestales to a TEE. I also thought you were carrying very ‘girl’ like…(as am I..just have that longer torso to spread it out). I’m also STILL getting sick in my 23rd week. Crazy.
:) But, love how our mother intuition was RIGHT already! That has to be some kind of sign for our future parenting skills…right?!
Rebecca Foxworth says
I met my husband when I was 19. Married at 23. Got pregnant and miscarried 5 times. So when we FINALLY had a pregnancy that worked when we were 32, we were DYING to know everything about the baby…including the gender.
Unfortunately the huge ultrasound place where we go for ultrasounds had been sued by a client (despite signing a waiver that nothing is guaranteed) because she was told boy and got girl, or some such nonsense. Either way, they had been advised by a lawyer that they could no longer tell clients the gender of their baby. Whaaaat? No! This was before pay-to-see-3D ultrasounds shops that are out there now, so there was no other way to find out.
Because my pregnancy was considered high-risk, we got an ultrasound every two weeks. Always with the same statement, “We’ve been advised by our lawyers not to reveal…”. Grrrr.
Then, one day, six weeks before our due date we were told that though they could not reveal the gender of the baby directly to us, they could forward the films to our doctor and she could tell us the gender of the baby. And, despite being 34 weeks along, they DID get a good shot of, well, the goods. And forwarded it to our doctor.
My doctor promptly received the written report from the ultrasound tech (with no gender info), but no films. Twice a week for six weeks I went to her office to find that the films had not yet arrived. Really? Really?
On the morning of my due date, my beautiful daughter was born. The next day my doctor entered as I was holding her in my arms, opened her chart, showed me the films that had arrived while I was in labor and deadpanned, “Good news, Rebecca. I got the films. It’s a girl!”
Oh. Right.