It's A Girl {behind the scenes}

Please excuse the horrible quality of this photo. It came off my phone. Grainy or not, I still love it.

I'm a sucker for surprises.

There's just something about the kind of excitement that makes your heart skip a beat, something about feeling those little butterflies fluttering about inside your belly, something about the kind of anticipation that makes you want to squeal & burst at the seams.

Which is why, when it came time to find out whether our little Jumping Bean was team pink or team blue, I had no choice but to turn the event into a full fledged sha-bang.

I say, why not? Why not take an already exciting moment & squeeze it, stretch it & mold it into a huge event that will leave one heck of a lasting memory? I call it making the most out of life--turning small moments into big ones, turning big moments into monumental ones--it just makes life a little sweeter. And when this life can be so sour at times, why not take the sweet times & drown them puppies in sugary, syrupy goodness?

So that's just what we did.

Here's the {behind the scenes} story to us finding out we are expecting a little bundle of pink:

First of all, I thought there would be no way of us finding out the gender of this baby before Christmas morning. I wasn't scheduled for another doctors visit until after the new year, so I figured our hopes of finding out on Christmas morning were pretty much shot. But I also figured it never hurts to ask, so when I did, I was surprised to hear my doctor say that it would be no problem at all to squeeze me in a few days before Christmas! Sa-weet!


We didn't announce to the world that our big ultrasound was scheduled, but we also didn't keep it a huge secret. We tried hard to dodge any questions that came up & we always gave a sigh of relief when we managed to shimmy away from the big question. But if somebody came out & point blank asked us the exact day we would be finding out, we begrudgingly told them our little plan.


The big day--Thursday, December 22nd had finally arrived & Jett & I met Jared at the doctor's office like we always do. Together, the three of us walked back to the low lit ultrasound room, where Diana greeted us with a great big smile & of course, Elmo stickers for Jett. Diana & I, we go way back. She was my ultrasound tech when I was pregnant with Jett so she is quite familiar with us & our shenanigans. She knows the drill. She understands our system-- that we don't find out the gender of our babies the traditional way. Instead, she smiled sweetly & held out her hand as I placed in it the little homemade card I had made--on the outside of the card a little ribbon, 2 crocheted flowers, & white shimmery letters reading--baby. On the inside--boy or girl. 

Eagerness grew as we took some time to see the little beating heart, the perfect railroad track spine, the wiggly arms, the crossed legs {at the ankles, just like our Jett Jett sits}, & the sweet little perfect round head. We oohed & ahhhed over every little detail we could see on the screen & we laughed & laughed when our baby grew tired of being poked & prodded & did a complete somersault away from the ultrasound wand.

Then the moment we had been waiting for was just a peek away. I froze as I heard Diana say, "Okay, look away & I'll get a look." I held my breath as I stared at Jared, both of us grinning from ear to ear, praying silently that the little booger would uncross *it's* legs so that ever so important peek could be obtained. After a quick jiggle of my belly to loosen those crossed ankles, followed by a few more seconds of silence, Diana piped up with an, "Okay!" Of course my doubting self immediately responded with a, "You got it?" {I was surprised how quickly she had gotten the shot}. This time she replied with a VERY confident, "Yep!".  She placed the card inside the envelope, sealed it with scotch tape, wished us a Merry Christmas, & we were on our way. I was a ball of giddiness.

Our next destination--Lauren Alexandra--my favorite baby boutique in the whole wide world, located in the quaint little storybook community of Brookside. This store makes me go weak in the knees. Most of Jett's tiny baby clothing came from this little boutique, all of my nursery bedding & linens were designed & custom made at this little shop, & I cannot tell you how many endless hours I have spent wandering around this little gem of a store. It was no question that this was the place to do the job.

We hurried out of the cold & into the cozy little boutique where we immediately bolted to the newborn section. First we chose our little boy items--a little shirt & pant set with airplanes scattered all over them & a fuzzy little blue blankie, chosen by Jett. And next we headed off to the girl section where I stood paralyzed by the amount of choices I was facing. Tutus, ruffle butts, frilly socks, pink fur coats...geez, Louise. I had to pull in my backup {aka Jared} & together we chose our little girl items--a gray & white striped onesie & the most adorable little frilly pink & gray striped leg warmers. Jett did the honors once again of choosing the blankie--the softest, sweetest, little pink lamb blankie you've ever seen. We handed over to the store clerk our sealed envelope, along with all our findings--the stack of girl items & the stack of boy items & asked the young girl to take a peek at the card & wrap accordingly! We left the boutique to do a little shopping & when we came back to pay for our purchases, we were handed a small bag, with blue and pink tissue spewing from it & our card sealed back up with tape & tucked neatly into the perfectly wrapped gift. I never looked at the receipt. I never looked at the prices of our items. I didn't even glance down at the bag {I know myself & my wheels would have started spinning trying to figure it out}. I tossed the bag into the back seat of my car & headed home as fast as I could to wrap that sucker in a big box & cover it in Christmas wrapping paper. I couldn't stand another second of that temptation staring me in the face.

Okay, let's stop right here. This is the part where I'm going to tell you what I THOUGHT was wrapped up in that bag. I was 99.999999 percent sure that inside that bag, all wrapped up in blue & pink tissue paper, laid a little airplane outfit & fuzzy blue blankie. In fact, I spent the next three days dreaming of the little boy I was just sure was in my belly. Jared was sure we were having another boy, as well.

So you can only imagine how my heart raced when I tore open that gift on Christmas morning & caught the slightest glimmer of pink just underneath the wrapping. I carefully pulled back more tissue & saw gray {there was no gray on that airplane outfit}. Then I uncovered that sweet, soft, PINK, little lamb blankie & my eyes grew as big as saucers. My mouth dropped to the floor & I sat there speechless, just processing what was before my eyes. Jared & I locked eyes in disbelief--She's a little girl! Our baby is a little girl! What started out as complete shock was quickly spinning into pure elation!

And just to make sure the gift & the card matched up, we unsealed the envelope, pulled it out & sure enough--

Girl, it is!

Well, I told you I'm a sucker for surprises. And little sister, she sure surprised our socks off! In fact, I don't think we could have been more surprised on Christmas morning.

Here we sit almost a week later, perched up on cloud nine, with no intentions of coming down anytime soon. We are thrilled beyond thrilled, over the moon excited, & so very anxious to snuggle our little bundle of pink in our arms. She is already loved, she is already adored, & my goodness, is she so very celebrated.

So there you have it--all the behind the scenes footage! I hope you've enjoyed our shenanigans!

Be sure & stop back by on Monday. I'm adding to my Memory Lane Monday Series where I'll be sharing how we found out that our little Jett Jett was Team BLUE. His story is just as fun & you won't want to miss it!

Happy Friday!