How we told the family

When we decided to do the early gender ultrasound we agreed that we just wanted it to be us. We wanted to find out together before anyone else. We wanted it to be special and memorable that way. We are so thankful we had the opportunity to do the early ultrasound and are very blessed to have had such a wonderful day together.

Originally we had a play to do a gender reveal party at our house. However, due to our weekends filling up and a wedding we had to go to out of town, it wasn't going to work out. So, we decided to surprise our families.

This was rough. Not going to lie. No one in our family knew we were going to the ultrasound on Monday. No one knew we had to keep it a secret for a few days. It was a killer. However we wanted it to be something special and that no one would forget, so we decided just to go all in.

My parents were in Hilton Head for the week celebrating their anniversary. They usually don't do spring trips, but since my sister was playing tennis for college down there they decided to go down then so they could see her play a little. This was my parents first vacation alone. Ever. They never really had a honeymoon and they never went on vacation without us.

J and I decided that we were going to send them cupcakes with pink inside of them. I found a fabulous cupcake shop {Sweet Carolina Cupcakes} close to their hotel, however due to some recent delivery issues, they told me that it would be best for my parents to pick them up. So, I told my dad we all (including my sister) had a gift for them. They would have to pick it up at the date and time I give them. No questions. I also couldn't give them directions until an hour before they would leave.

Thankfully everything worked out perfectly. They went to the cupcake shop, no questions asked and picked up the cupcakes. My mom overheard one of the bakers talking about these cupcakes being the gender reveal cakes. She immediately began freaking out and had to cut one in half right away. She was screaming and jumping up and down after she saw the pink.

...Meanwhile I'm on the phone with my dad laughing hysterically at her reaction!

A few minutes later she was calm and could talk. She said it was the best news she could have heard on their anniversary vacation and it was something they'd never forget.

J's family was a little easier to tell and not as much prep work since we were going down to see them. I ordered their cupcakes from Our Cupcakery. Oh my gosh. They were delicious!! I will order cupcakes from here from now on.

I rushed out of school Friday afternoon and went straight to pick them up. I couldn't wait! The longest hours were Friday night into Saturday morning just wanted to tell them.

J's mom, dad, brother and sister all gathered around for what they thought were birthday cupcakes for his mom. We even gave her her early birthday present so it didn't look totally weird we only had cupcakes. They didn't have any idea until they saw the pink inside! They were very happy as well. J's mom makes beautiful afghans and she showed me some ideas she had in mind. I'm excited to see her finished product in the fall!

We had to scoot out after we had the cupcakes because we actually had a wedding to go to for one of J's good friends Saturday evening. J was thrilled to tell all of his friends at the wedding we were expecting a girl! It was so nice to see both family and friends over the weekend because that doesn't happen too often.


I would say our gender reveals, even though small, were a huge success. Overall we are thankful for having a healthy baby girl and supporting families.