The Sherlock Home: It's A . . .

The cupcakes we used to reveal the gender of the baby

On December 6, we found out the sex of our baby. We originally decided we weren't going to find out. When I had an ultrasound at 15 weeks, the tech couldn't determine gender, so it didn't matter if we wanted to know or not. When we went to this appointment, I was 19 weeks, and the tech (it's always the same guy) asked what the baby was. We told him that he wasn't able to determine at the last appointment. He asked if we wanted to know, and before there was even any discussion, John blurted out "yes." So, he told us what my intuition knew all along. We are having a baby GIRL! John promptly said "but I already have 2 girls." And the tech, who has a very dry (if any) sense of humor responded "well, now you have 3." We were so excited to know, although I kept telling John "I'm sorry it's not a boy." I know ultimately we both just want a healthy baby, but I also know that he wants his little boy. For now, he will just have another girl who will wrap him around her finger.

Once we knew, the discussion started about what to do with the information. At first, we decided we were just going to live with the knowledge, but still not tell anyone else. I was worried about how Kassie would react, because she has been very adamant about only wanting a brother. It's not like there is anything we could do to change it, but a tempremental teenager isn't always the most level-headed person alive. So, for a while, we just lived with the little secret between the 2 of us.

I was excited that we could start saying "she" and "her" instead of "it" or "the baby" all the time. But, eventually I really wanted to say something. I made a small slip in a comment to someone on Facebook, and my mom jumped all over that. She knew that we knew, and it was killing her that we wouldn't tell. So, we decided to make a game out of it with my family at Christmas time.

On Christmas evening, after dinner, we told everyone that we had dessert. First, I made everyone pick a pink or blue napkin, according to what they thought we were having. There were a lot on the boy wagon out there, because my brother Brent was the only one who picked pink. We had ordered cupcakes with pink frosting injected in the middle. So, when everyone bit into their cupcake, they would see what we were having. We made everyone wait and start eating at the same time. My mom's reaction was priceless. She was genuinely surprised, and excited at the same time. After having 4 brothers herself, and then raising 4 boys, she's pretty excited about all the granddaughters she has.

It was a lot of fun to be able to tell my family at the same time, with such a fun activity. I certainly didn't think of it myself, but it was still a lot of fun. Now, to pick a name . . .