… HE!
We haven’t done one of these posts since 2010, so it feels kind of strange and exciting to be sharing this kind of news with you guys again. We found out on Wednesday, and then scurried to tell our families over the last 48 hours. Of course, the most important person to tell first was Clara. We didn’t want her to learn the news from an ultrasound technician, so we scheduled a playdate for her with my dad during this particular appointment. Then when we were back together, we surprised her with a baby boy doll (which are surprisingly hard to find, we learned). It was a cute little “OK, look in the bag to see if there’s a little boy or a little girl in mommy’s belly!” moment.
And if there’s one thing she enjoys more than tearing through some tissue paper, it’s baby dolls. It was love at first sight and, more importantly, she completely connected the dots that this meant she was getting a little brother. She pretty much immediately started giving him his bottle and changing his diapers and even bragged that she knew it was a boy the whole time. When we asked her what she wanted to name the baby doll, without hesitation she shouted: “Barnacles!” After Sherry and I completely failed at stifling our laughter, Clara explained that its full name was actually Captain Barnacles (a character in one of her new favorite shows, Octonauts). So yeah, she won’t be naming her real brother… but we have called the bun “the barnacle” a few times since then.
She (okay, well all of us) originally guessed we were having a girl. But our instincts started to shift to boy when Sherry’s morning sickness wouldn’t let up (this pregnancy is pretty different than the last). Which is good because Clara started asking for a brother, probably because a few of her best friends have baby brothers. Regardless of the reason, she couldn’t have been more thrilled at the news. And so are we.
After about the sixteenth Captain Barnacle diaper change, Clara called up Nonna to tell her via FaceTime. She was really excited to deliver the news – and Nonna was just as excited to hear it!
For telling my family here in town, we decided to make a little game out of the announcement. We managed to get my parents, my sister, and her family to meet us out to dinner last night (at Panera, since we’re super fancy and all). We came armed with a bunch of blue and pink envelopes, so each person could make a final guess by picking a pink envelope if they thought it was a girl and a blue one if they thought boy.
Then we had them all tear into them at the same time to see if their baby-dar was on point or not. All of the blue ones said some iteration of “yup!” or “bingo!” or “you betcha!” and all the pink ones said “nope!” “try again!” or “wrong-o!” We had about a 50/50 split in guesses, so even though half of ’em were off-base, everyone was thrilled. It was really fun to watch their faces as they all figured it out at pretty much exactly the same moment.
Then we got to make a whole bunch of other family & friend calls to spread the news (Clara was awesome about boasting “I’m getting a baby brother!” about 100 times to various friends and relatives on the horn). And that, as they say, is history.
Sherry and I are both really excited. We’re mostly just thankful to hear there’s a healthy bun barnacle growing in there, no matter its sex. But being able to picture this child – this boy! – a bit more clearly makes the excitement that much more real. As much as two little girls would’ve been fun, we’re really looking forward to the experience of raising a son along with this great daughter of ours. Not to mention that Sherry’s already going crazy looking at nurseries on Pinterest.
It’s fun to think about the possibilities for that room now that we know better who will be occupying it. Not that we’ll fill it with “man things” or make it all blue and green (actually, come to think of it, Clara’s original nursery was blue and green) but it’s just fun to talk about potential projects and colors and art now. The funny thing is that the nursery is the only room in this entire house that had pink trim when we bought it.
Good thing it’s already painted white! Bad that the room is currently housing a bunch of random junk. Guess it’s getting time to start working on that…
We’d love to hear your stories about finding out the sex of your baby (whether halfway through with an ultrasound, one of those early blood tests, or right there in the delivery room). And feel free to share how you told your family and friends. Was it a photo on Facebook? One of those blue/pink cakes? A box full of balloons? Or did you just call or visit people and blurt out the news? Any way you play it, it’s a pretty exciting moment.
Lindsay says
Yippeeeeee! SO excited for you guys! Congrats!!
Rachael Seda says
Yay! Congratulations. Very exciting!
Katie says
Congrats! My little brother (at 24 and taller than me, not so little)is one of my best friends…lucky Clara!
Katie says
Congrats P Family! You will love raising a boy. :) We have a 16-month old son and are pregnant with our second, also a boy, due in late April. Where did you get the boy baby doll? We have been trying to find one for him but have been striking out! He is already loving on and taking care of the “babies” (dolls) at his daycare so we definitely want to continue that at home to help prepare him. Thanks and congratulations again!
YoungHouseLove says
It was hard to find! We hit up Target (no dice) and then Toys R Us (nada) and then another Toys R Us (one of those bigger ones) and there was one solitary boy doll. We grabbed him and ran!
xo
s
Marissa says
I bought a boy Cabbage Patch Kid on Amazon– couldn’t find any at the stores!
Emma says
As an oldest child with a brother who is 5 years younger than me, I can predict that Clara will have a fabulous time growing up with a baby brother. I always loved attending my brothers various activities growing up (him being so much younger allowed me to continue doing “kid” things into my teens), and now that we are both finally in our twenties it’s been wonderful growing close to him again as adults. I’m so excited for your family! Congrats!!
Meg says
Congrats! So exciting for Clara to have a little brother! I total vote bicycle theme for the nursery, if your taking votes ;-)
JennP says
We didn’t do anything cool or creative to announce the gender during my first pregnancy. With baby #2, they called me a week before my anatomy scan was scheduled and said they had an opening the next day, so we took it without letting our families know it had gotten moved. At my mom’s bday dinner that weekend (which my in-laws were also at), we wrapped up a pack of pink onesies. It was a total surprise for everybody, because they had no idea we even knew yet. It was perfect! WE hope to have a third, and are going to be 100% team green next time. I think a delivery room surprise would be awesome!
Danielle Ferretti in Miami says
Hi guys ! This is SOOOOOOOOOO exciting !! Congrats on Baby Boy !!! I had a meeting here at work at 10am, and WAS LATE for it since I could not leave without finding out what you guys were having…. yes, you can call me Danielle Stalker. :)
xo
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, we love you Danielle! Hope you slipped in and nobody even noticed ;)
xo
s
Amanda says
Yay!! Congratulations!! Clara is so stinkin’ cute, and can’t wait to see what you do with the nursery; I’m on pins and needles :-)
melissa Birkhofer says
Ahh! So happy for y’all! We polled nieces and nephews when I was pregnant (we thought it was a boy because I carried so low). All kids under 5 guessed girl and they were right! When we told my nephew Gabriel, he took a deep breath as if exhausted and said, “I TOLD you guys!” So hilarious. Clara’s going to be a great big sister! Hugs!
Melanie says
Some thoughts: FIRST OF ALL CONGRATULATIONS! Second, I’m having a boy too, due in April, and my morning sickness lasted sooooooo much longer than it did with my daughter. What is the deal with that?!!? Third, Clara is the cutest thing ever and I LOVE her dress. Fourth, my nursery looks an awful lot like yours at the moment. I’m starting to panic about getting it all finished, but I can’t even start until after Christmas. AHHH! At least I finished my mood board yesterday so now I just have to start the hunt for affordable versions of all the things I love (I love expensive things, unfortunately). And lastly, I’m so excited to be going through all this at the same time you are, even if that makes me a super creepy weirdo! I can’t wait to see what you do with the nursery and to hear all about your little boy. I’m so happy for you guys!
SamW says
Congrats! It must be the Year of the Boy — everyone I know that either had a baby this year or is pregnant, is having a boy. We’re due with our first in March (and I totally thought it was a girl before we found out)!
Debbie C says
Congrats on the little boy! We have the same, a girl and now a son! Clara will be a great big sis. We had a “gender reveal” party with a few friends the night of our 20 week appt. We had asked the ultrasound tech to write on a piece of paper what the sex was (and not tell us), and put it in an envelope with the ultrasounds. At dinner, we opened the envelope in front of our friends! The paper said “boy” but we actually didn’t need it b/c the tech got a butt-angle shot on one of the ultrasound pics and it was VERY clear we were having a boy. :)
Rachel D. says
Congratulations!! So exciting!!
Anne says
Congrats you all!! Can’t wait for the nursery work to start!
I didn’t have a whole lot of morning sickness but seabands and suckers helped me when I did. Hope you feel better!
Julia Kent @ The Domestic Blonde says
CONGRATULATIONS!!! The perfect little nuclear family. You two are so blessed!!!
Melissa says
Yay! How exciting for you guys! I must confess when I first saw the name of the post pop up in my Facebook newsfeed, I had to do a double take. I’m pregnant right now too and since our last name starts with a P, I refer to the baby as, Baby P. Then I realized, duh..you were talking about your own Baby P. :)
Irina says
CONGRATULATIONS!! Funny story in our Family. My Sister was pregnant last year, expecting a boy (they were told) well, today SHE is 7 month old ;-)
Danielle says
I have been reading your blog since 2008 and feel like “I know you” (not to sound creepy), but when I read this post, I got a little teary eyed for you guys! Congrats! Boys are just as awesome!
Also, I had a boy first, then a girl this year. My pregancy with the girl was so different and I didn’t feel good the whole time. Doctor told me second pregancies are always like this. I hope the feeling yucky part ends for you soon.
Patty says
Congratulations Sherry, John and Clara. So happy it’s a boy!! Love how you shared the news. Leave it to you to be so creative.. Clara looks adorable and so happy.. (Love her new haircut.) What a joyous time of year to be able to share this wonderful news! Can’t wait to see him (the barnacle that is).. hehehehe.. Good luck with the rest of the pregnancy and enjoy!!! xo
Brieanne says
Congratulations on the news of your baby boy! I love how you shared it with your family (both the envelopes and Clara’s baby doll!) Our son turned one on Thanksgiving, and when I was pregnant we thought for sure he was a girl! We shared the news with our friends and family at a gender reveal party using cupcakes with blue filling. It’s one of my most cherished memories!
Jane says
A baby boy – how exciting! Thanks for sharing your wonderful news and congrats to all of you! I’m sure you will have a blessed and happy holiday!
Love,
Jane
Sophie says
Congratulations!!!
With my older brother (who is 23), my parents found out his gender as soon as they could.
With me (I’m 21), they decided they wanted to wait for me to be born, though my mum was CONVINCED I was a boy, and I was to be called Louis. When I was born, my dad looked and me and said ‘it’s a girl’ My mother’s response to that, being extremely emotional with the whole birth thing, just shouted ‘NO IT’S NOT’ and started to cry.
By the way, while I’m super happy for you and your little boy bun/barnacle, I do now owe my mum £10 because I was sure you had another little lady in there so we had a bet going. Can’t wait to see what you do with the nursery, I’m assuming it’s ‘all systems go’ on that from now?
YoungHouseLove says
We’ll probably just be thinking about the nursery for a little while longer (planning, maybe making some mood boards, etc) and then after the holidays we’ll dive into things like painting and really pulling it together. I think we started on Clara’s in early Feb (she was a May baby) so January sounds good for an April baby.
xo
s
Janice says
Congrats! As the mother of 3 girls (now in their 20’s!) I can’t imagine how a boy in that mix would have been so different. Boy or Girl, you win either way!!
PS Clara is freaking adorable.
Tracy W says
Congratulations! I’m a mom to two boys (15 months apart!) – welcome to the fun but exhausting club! :)
Erin @ The Impatient Gardener says
Although I’ve never had the pleasure of finding out what the gender of my own kid would be (or having said kid), I am a proud aunt by blood and friendship to many great kiddos. On behalf of all of us who buy presents, THANK YOU for finding out. It is so much more fun to shop for a baby when you know what sex its going to be. Most of all, congratulations to you all! So happy for you. Perhaps Barnacle will become “Barney.” :)
Amy says
Gah! So excited for you guys. We’re supposed to find out the sex of Baby #2 on Monday and I can’t wait. Your post just made me that much more excited. Many congrats – you’ll love having a little guy in the house (well, besides Burger!).
MaryAZ says
Boys are awesome! We decided to wait when we had our 1st…we got to the hospital & checked in & the nurse was entering things in the computer & said “so, are we going to circumcise this little guy???” I looked at my husband (who’s face had totally drained of any color!)because I was so shocked I couldn’t talk & he said: “WELL, if it’s a BOY we will!” The nurse quickly made some excuse about needing to get something out in the hall & left. It was SOOO not funny at the time, but it is a good story now (still not very funny, though). For our 2nd, we found out as soon as possible (another boy!). So happy for you!
Leigh says
Congratulations Petersiks!!!! That’s awesome! As a mom to an almost 2.5 year old boy, you are going to have so much fun! Just keep the squirter covered at all times, if you know what I mean…otherwise you could end up with a face (or mouth) full of pee. Not that I would know. ::Cough cough::
I had crazy all day sickness with my little man. It let up somewhere around week 19 but I continued to have bouts up until delivery. Since all the women in my family were only sick when pregnant with girls, everyone, including my husband, was convinced I was having a girl, except me. As it turns out, mothers intuition was right. My mom asked me 5 times, “are they sure it’s a boy?”
Now pregnant with baby #2, I am already comparing the differences in my pregnancies. Morning sickness hasn’t been as bad this time around, but its still very much a part of my day. We don’t find out what we’re having until January, but thinking about it is so much fun!
Liz says
YAY!!!!!!!
Annette says
What a wonderful gift! Blessings to your family (:
Kim Franklin says
Congratulations to you all. My daughter is expecting her first and we found out yesterday it was a BOY!! So excited and can’t wait to see your nursery ideas. We may have to borrow them ;)
Janice Lynch says
Wonderful! Congratulations! As the mother of 3 boys and 2 girls…both are great!!
Leah says
Congrats! Can’t wait to see the decorating.
I’m actually just a bit behind you: due in late June. This is our first, so we want to be surprised with the gender when the baby is born. I’m super stoked to follow you in the process and have a nice example for everything.
April Mattingly says
Holy Barnacles!!! I am beyond excited for you guys!!! This made my day, thank you so much for sharing your lives with us. Even though we’ve never met, you guys seriously feel like family to me!! Much love to you all.
xoxo- April M.
Mariah says
Congratulations!
Kari @ The Sunset LAne says
Congrats! You have Burger and Bean, seems only fitting to add a Barnacle! After 3 girls, I knew our 4th was another girl. My husband and I decided not to find out. We went into it with comments from family and even strangers like “we hope this one’s a boy!” and “maybe this time you’ll get it right and get your boy.” These super pissed me off, they would say these things like the girls were all failures and that boys were better than girls. What’s worse, is they would say these things in front of my daughters. I basically told everyone off. A lot.
My husband didn’t want to listen to it, so we weren’t going to find out. When we went in for the 20 week sonogram, the sonographer was being really careful not to show us anything and she went to put the wand near baby’s bum to measure him and I saw his gentleman business just floating out there :). She quickly moved it and asked if I had seen anything. I just smiled and told her I’d never seen those on a sonogram before :) She appologized for ruining it for me. I just told her she hadn’t ruined anything!
cristin says
congratulations! we’re having a boy in march! we also didn’t want our daughter to find out from the ultrasound tech, so we had the tech put the gender in an envelope and gave it to a local baker for a gender reveal cake. our hole family skyped in to watch the cake cutting, which our 2 year old daughter took the lead on. it was so fun to watch her reaction when the blue M&Ms poured out of the cake!
Evelina says
OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jennifer C. says
Congratulations! I was told I was having a boy at my 20 week anatomy appointment only to discover when baby was delivered that our baby boy was actually a baby girl! Darn ultrasound tech! :) We quickly recovered, took a little time to come up with a girl name, and took baby girl Grace home to her fishie decorated blue/turquoise/lime green/navy blue room. She hasn’t minded a bit and at 15 months now, loves to point at her fishies on the wall and say “ffffeeeesshh!”. :)
Enjoy! So glad baby boy Petersik is healthy!
elizabeth says
Yeah! Congrats and so happy for you guys. Clara looks so thrilled!!
Kerry says
Congratulations!! I had a feeling it was a boy. :)
My husband and I aren’t having kids for another year or so, but we’re disagreeing on how/when to find out. I want to find out in the delivery room, he wants to know sooner. Good thing we have a while to figure that one out. :/
ashley @ sunnysideshlee.com says
congrats! so excited for you guys and miss clara!
Linda says
So happy for you guys! I have a six y/o daughter and 10 month old baby boy and I still remember hearing it was going to be a boy! I thought for sure it would be another girl, I even had a girl name picked out (Sydney) but was thrilled to get our little John (named after Grandpa.)It is so much fun seeing how inherently different baby boys and girls can be! You’re in for many happy times, as you know!! It just melts my heart seeing how much my daughter loves her brother, I’m sure Clara will be the same way.
BTW the other day I was in our pediatrician’s office waiting room mindlessly scanning a magazine and I noticed the name Petersik. I turned the page and then turned back because that name is kinda uncommon and sure enough you guys were “experts” in the article. I was all I “know” them! I checked your archives and it looks like they’ve just recycled an old American Baby article from a few years ago into this month’s magazine.
Anyways, congrats again!
YoungHouseLove says
So funny! Didn’t even know about that!
xo
s
Rachel S says
Yay!! Congratulations!!! I was hoping for a boy!:D Now I have a family model to base my hopes and dreams on. Can not wait to see how the nursery turns out!
CandiceMcC says
Ok, so I already blurted out a congrats on FB because I couldn’t get the page to load earlier. But! With our first, we waited to find out in the delivery room (although many family members swore we knew and just weren’t telling them in particular). Girl! (As I suspected.) Then my husband texted the key players but left out the gender on purpose. :) There was a follow-up message. The second time I wanted to find out beforehand. We had an ultrasound but told the tech to write it down and put it in an envelope. We gathered the immediate family at dinner that night. My husband, again the jokester, had a fake envelope made up that he proceeded to tear up in front of everyone and said we were again waiting to find out. I grabbed the real envelope out of my purse and we all found out together that he was a he. :) Like you, I thought he was a she at first and was very surprised. They’re both great. You’re in for a fun ride!
Jess says
Congrats. I like the fun, but straightforward way you told everyone.
My first thought looking at that pile o’ stuff you have in there was that I feel like with that stash, I could get 3/4 of the way to a super cute boy nursery without much effort. I’m thinking the rug, the tan chair, the blue pillow, the yellow pillow, the big brown basket filled with blankets, the yellow high chair as an accent until Captain Barnacle is big enough to need it. The globe would look cute sitting on top of a bookshelf filled with kids’ books and would pick up the yellow and blues.
Even if you didn’t keep it all (I’m sure you’re itching to get some new things and decorate), it’d be really fun to see what the nursery might look like if you built it out of things you already have. A thought! :)
YoungHouseLove says
We definitely love working with what we have! Not to mention that Clara’s now fully sleeping in her big girl bed, so once we put the crib in the nursery some of that stuff might have room to go in Clara’s room (like her play fridge, etc). Hope it all finds a nice little home :)
xo
s
Kimberly @ Turning It Home says
AHH! So awesome, Clara seems so excited!
We never did any special announcement, although it sounds so fun… I’m not that coordinated (nor can I keep any special news to myself for longer than .2947 seconds). With my first daughter, as we were leaving the hospital where we had our ultrasound I called my dad to tell him.
To back track a bit; my dad has four girls and grew up with eight sisters so he told us he wanted us to have a girl so he can watch us go through what he went through. Needless to say, when I told him we were in fact having a girl, he laughed and said “Now you get to experience all the h*#$ you put me through!!” in a joking manner, of course! (It was all fun and games, still is!) Now I call him to say “I’m sorry for being a three year old!” or “I’m sorry for making you take me to chuckee cheese!” because my daughter is a spitting image of me as a wee girl.
Now that my abnormally long story is over… Congratulations you guys!!
DebbyeS says
Congratulations! We are hoping to find out what ours will be from an ultrasound that is scheduled for Dec. 30th. We decided to pass on the blood tests and just see if we can tell from the ultrasound. Maybe it will cooperate. This is our first (and totally unplanned) child after 19 years of marriage.
Lora says
Congratulations!!! Boys are so much fun – my little dude is 4 months now and he’s a blast! We had a friend make a blue/pink cake and had a gender reveal party with all of our friends. My family lives in Europe so we connected with them on Skype and they were able to experience everything together with us. Cutting into that cake was one of the most amazing moments for my hubby and I (we had NO idea what the gender was) and we were really happy to be able to share it with our loved ones.
Congrats again! I can’t wait to read about all the awesome boy-things that you come up with! Don’t mind if I steal some of your ideas…:)