boy oh boy!

This weekend it hit me (as waves of sentimentality usually do) that 2 years ago I was preparing myself to find out if I was going to have a boy or a girl.  I have always been very open about wanting a girl because I obviously am a girl and have had the best time nannying girls and have dreams of barrettes and french braids and frilly costumes for dance recitals (so so cute).  However, I know in reality that tons of moms can't even comb their little girls hair nevertheless attempt a french braid or Bjork buns.  And I also loved the idea of having a son first... a big brother for (hopefully) the many kids Joel and I have... one day but now now, definitely not now.  Regardless, this is just an ongoing ramble.  I adore my son and am so happy to be a mommy to someone as kick ass as he.

Joel and I knew that we were going to find out the gender of our child.  Joel said that our pregnancy was surprise enough so we were definitely going to find out as early as we could.  However, I didn't want to hear the news while the anatomy scan was happening so Joel and I concocted another plan.  I have seen so many creative ways to announce the gender of a baby but we kept ours simple.

I went in for my sonogram with a card and envelope.  I repeatedly told the ultrasound technician NOT to tell us the sex of our baby but instead to write it down on the card I had.  She took a million photos and gave them to us, none of which gave any indication in either direction.  She handed us back our card and we sealed it up in the envelope.


We also took this photo for posterity.

I can't believe we were able to make the 3 hour drive to see our families without attempting to sneak a peak at what was written.  I think it was harder for my mother in law to hold off until everyone arrived for the party.  I was convinced she was going to MacGuyver her way into my special Gender Revealing envelope.  Our families were soon all gathered- we even skyped with my sister in law who wasn't able to be there in person-  and we cracked open our fate.  My awesome nephew took this video for us.


I love love love that my nephew zoomed in on Joel's face during the end of the video.  You can see his nervousness that this was all indeed real, but so much excitement for a boy.  A boy we always knew we would name Jonah.

The photo mentioned and the reason I was laughing like a maniac:



I loved every aspect of finding out this way but I am curious, when we have another baby, to see if I could make it to birth day without finding out the gender.

I love my son for bringing this much joy to our lives even before he was even born.