Baby BOY

Like most girls these days, I wanted a huge gender reveal party I had dreamed about it for years... Typically at gender reveal parties, couples invite friends and family to share in the excitement of revealing their babys gender. There are many ways the gender can be revealed--- couples often cut into a plain white cake revealing either pink or blue frosting between the layers- or open a box and pink or blue balloons come out, you get the gist. I talked about it with Caleb, and he was on board too or at least he thought he was on board. When we were at our 14 week ultrasound the Doctor asked if we wanted to know the gender- Caleb quickly said "yes." I looked at Caleb funny and said- "no we don't, we are waiting for our gender reveal party." Caleb's eyes half popped out of his head and said, "NO WAY.. I know before our friends know." I (rather frustrated) said, " No the point of the gender party is to reveal the gender to everyone- including us." Caleb looked at me crazy like I tricked him or something. Perhaps he was just hearing what he wanted to hear? After some talks, Caleb was on board again- but now I wasn't. How could I do something that I KNEW Caleb really didn't want to do? It is his child too, his opinion should be just as important. So I brainstormed an idea that I thought we could both enjoy. What I really love are surprises, so I figured I could just surprise Caleb and that would satisfy my quench for a big surprise party. I also wanted to surprise myself, which I still managed to do- here is how I pulled it off-

Our mid-way check up is set up for Sept. 4th, where we would likely find out the gender. I knew I needed to find out before then in order to surprise Caleb. Luckily, we have a sweet friend at our church, Lori who offered to give me ultrasounds whenever I wanted. So I asked her if she would do a secret ultrasound for me to see if she could find out the gender. I went in on Monday to get my ultrasound... We were both giddy with excitement. She was looking at the babe taking pictures and chatting with me. She then turned and looked at me and said, "well I know what it is!" I smiled at her and giggled. She then wrote down the gender and sealed the envelope up for me to bring to a bakery. She also sealed up the ultrasound pictures that revealed the gender for Caleb and I to look at later! I gave Lori a HUGE thank you hug and headed off to the bakery.  I found the cutest bakery in Orange county called Suzie Cakes... Unfortunately, they couldn't change the frosting in the layers of carrot cake- our favorite- so that left us with plain white cake, AND it would take 3 days to pull off. I COULD NOT wait 3 days, and white cake really isn't my favorite. But before I left I saw these precious little cupcakes and asked if they put them in boxes, they said yes.

So, I handed them the sealed envelope that revealed the gender of our babe and I waited outside while they boxed up two cupcakes, blue for boy and pink cupcakes for girl. The bakery was a buzz with excitement and thanked me multiple times for sharing my special occasion with them. Everyone from the back came out to see the gender. When they asked what I thought it was I said boy. I wrapped the box of cupcakes in a bag with lots of tissue paper, and got a card for Caleb as well. I wrote him a sweet note revealing to him what I had been up to. I wanted him to know that he is more important to me then a gender reveal party and that I was willing to compromise.

When Caleb got home from work I told him we were going to dinner because he had been working so hard lately. I told him I bought him a little gift for working so hard. He kept trying to make me leave the present at home-or in the car... are you starting to get it? He does NOT like to draw attention to himself. Me--- BRING IT ON!  I calmly grabbed the present and brought it in with me to the resturaunt. I called ahead and explained to the manager what I was doing and she informed the server. Caleb and I had a lovely dinner, we talked about his job, our move to Huntington Beach, and all the things we are grateful for. After dinner plates were picked up the server brought over two dessert plates and forks, I asked her for a glass of milk (Caleb can't eat dessert without a glass of milk) and pulled out caleb's present. He looked at me, smiling and asked, "My present is dessert?" I told him to read his card. He wouldn't be mad if I told you he started to cry. He was so surprised and LOVED that I had been so thoughtful to sacrifice my desire for a big party so that we could celebrate alone. We pulled out the box and opened it to find.....

We had always guessed boy from the beginning. We tearfully ate our delicious blue cupcakes.

Here is a picture of our ultrasound, I love what Lori wrote! :) so cute! We do have a boy name- I will tell you more about it in my next blog!

hilary