Our Gender REVEAL

Being pregnant during this pandemic has definitely been scary and lonely. I’ve wanted to be around everyone and no one all at the same time. This is not how I imagined spending such an exciting time in our lives! So when it came to the gender reveal- we had to be creative. At first we planned on a virtual party. But the closer to the time came, I started feeling very sad about not having anyone around to celebrate. There is nothing wrong with virtual events. But after months of isolation and working from home it was starting to get to me. My sister came up with an idea of having a socially distanced picnic out in the backyard. I loved it and it still felt safe. It was a great option.

We went with color smoke bombs to indicate the gender. We grabbed all our gender reveal decor from amazon which looked so cute when it all came together. We had a cake made from our local bakery Cafe Pierrot here in Sparta, NJ. Everything came out beautifully! We set up tables in the grass and used our deck space for additional seating. Instead of hot appetizers we had snack boxes with chips, cookies, nuts, etc. We kept food simple by having a BBQ and everyone was served to avoid crowding around a typical food table.

Jeff and I decided not to find out the gender of our baby until the big reveal with family. That meant someone had to hold on to the news! The sex was known at 16 weeks because we did the genetic tests via blood work (typically you have to wait until 20 weeks). The gender reveal was done 3 weeks later- meaning for 3 whole weeks I was brewing wondering what baby Taylor is! Ha! My sister kept her lips sealed and gave absolutely nothing away. I tried all the old wives tales- the string test, the heart rate, the Chinese calendar, the how you carry test, the cravings test, basically anything that indicates boy or girl I tried to apply it. I was convinced I was having a boy (even though I really wanted a girl) and I convinced Jeff too. Jeff was neutral and always said he wanted what I wanted. I didn’t want to be disappointed by the gender and told myself either way I will happy because I will love them regardless.

And the smoke bomb went off! At first it looked like it was blue. Ok, I thought. But then….bright pink exploded. OMG I started jumping and screaming like I won the lotto! I was sooo surprised and so, so happy. Jeff was thrilled too!

This was such an incredible way to find out the sex of the baby. It was fun and it was safe. We thank God for our friends and family- including you who share in our joy. We continue to pray for a safe and healthy pregnancy. Baby girl coming soon.