It’s official: the bean is a GIRL! And we couldn’t be more excited.
Well, actually, Burger’s a bit oblivious to it all.
We found out on the day before Christmas Eve (December 23rd) thanks to some Oscar-worthy pleading to the doc (she wanted us to come in on the 30th but we were dying to tell our families in time for the holidays).
Best. Christmas. Gift. Ever.
And lucky for us, baby beanette wasn’t shy and we got the most obvious shot of “the goods” that you can get. Woo hoo! (or should I say woo hoo-ha?). We originally thought we wanted the tech to write down boy or girl in an envelope and then go directly out to a special one-on-one Merry Christmas dinner afterwards to rip it open (before heading off to spend the next four days with family).
But when we thought about having to avert our eyes during that part of her scan (so as not to ruin the envelope surprise later) we both realized that we didn’t want to miss a moment of gazing at the bean while she did her cute womb thing. We literally didn’t think we were capable of turning our heads away for a second (especially since it might be the last ultrasound of Sherry’s entire pregnancy) so we decided to heck with the envelope- let’s find out right then and there. So that’s how Sherry (with goo on her belly) and I (on the edge of my seat) learned that we were going to have a daughter. And yes I kissed my beaming wife right there on the table in front of the tech. It was such an exciting moment.
But the plot thickens. Since we love surprises, we hadn’t told any of our family members that we’d scored that last-minute pre-Christmas appointment. They all thought we were finding out around the 30th when Sherry truly hit the 20 week mark. So after a romantic celebratory dinner full of name chatter and nursery brainstorming, we hit the grocery store for gingerbread cookie mix and pink icing to prepare for our big family reveal on Christmas Eve the very next day.
While the gingerbread girls that we made won’t win any cookie-decorating awards, they did the trick when it came to breaking the news to our family. As soon as we showed up to my parents’ house in Northern Virginia on Christmas Eve (after tiling the bathroom all day we were able to conveniently time our arrival right for dessert) I announced that we’d brought a special treat: “Surprise! We made gingerbread cookies in honor of the bean…” Sherry continued: “…and we learned yesterday that we should make them ALL PINK!!!!”
Shouting, jumping, and general merriment/pandemonium ensued. We had officially surprised the heck out of everyone and they were all thrilled. The entire crowd – especially our niece Olivia – was extremely excited to be adding a baby girl to the pair of baby boys that my sisters brought into the world in 2009. So naturally, everyone expressed their excitement by gobbling down the cookies in record time. Which was festive and fun- as long as that’s not the reaction our little lady elicits when she comes into the world next Spring.
And since I know we’re bound to get showered with girl-specific advice and/or questions, we should say upfront that (1) yes, this makes the name brainstorming much easier but we’re not planning to settle on anything (or share our contenders) ’til we meet our little bundle of baby in May and (2) despite all the pink themes in this post, we’re leaning toward a less gender specific color scheme for the nursery (think greens, blues, and yellows with a dash of pink here and there). Although now it’s really fun to think through some feminine accents and DIY details to make the room feel sweet and baby girl specific (but those with baby boys shouldn’t discount our nursery project completely since there will be lots of boy or girl adaptable ideas).
Enough about Baby P- we’d love to hear your stories about your big exciting boy/girl reveal (whether via ultrasound or via birth). Heck a super close family friend of ours just welcomed two beautiful twin girls into the world after believing there was only one in there for nine whole months (she didn’t want to find out beforehand or even have an ultrasound so it was a huuuuge surprise!). Oh and feel free to divulge your “it’s a girl!’ or “it’s a boy!” reveals as well – it’s so much fun to picture how such a major moment was shared with family and friends.
Anna, Sydney says
CONGRATULATIONS! Lucky baby. Perhaps adopting a sister for her through World Vision or similar organisation at the same time?
STORY: My man is a twin and when his mother was expecting him and his sister she asked the doc if it was possible that she was carrying twins, being that twins ran in the family. He assured her it was just one (the ol’ goat). When popping the first baby and staff started to clear the room someone went “hang on, THERE’S ANOTHER ONE!” FIL almost passed out.
Hehe, SURPRISE! :)
elvira says
Congrats!
Blair says
CONGRATULATIONS!
Old wives tale or not, when you mentioned you went through day after day of morning sickness, I just KNEW it would be a girl. :)
Briar Oak says
ZOMG!! Congrats, you guys!
Lisa says
Congrat’s Guys!
I learned the gender of both my beans the day they were born. I wanted to wait and be surprised. God blessed me with a boy(now age 23) and a girl (now age 21)! just what I wanted;p
Briar Oak says
Whoops, I meant OMG! So happy for you guys, Congrats!!!!
Ann says
Congratulations! I am so happy for you!
Jill says
I’m so happy she’s a girl :) You’re going to be amazing parents! Can’t wait to see the nursery ideas.
Nicola says
congratulations! I’m so happy for you two!
Ann says
Congratulations!!! My husband and I are so excited for you two! We are a couple your age from Iowa and love following your website. You are awesome! We were blessed with our first child, a little GIRL, last June. She is now 6 1/2 months old and the joy of our lives! From the time I found out I was pregnant until Whitney’s birth we had a blog about the pregnancy, pictures of her room, etc. She amazes us everyday! I am so happy for you two!
Lisa Bartlett says
It was so fun to watch my baby in my belly via ulta-sound. He had his father dance moves from the start!
Just like Anna, Sydney – my husband is also a surprise twin. Oh, words I never hope to hear
“Mrs Bartlett, there’s another one…”
Bethann says
Congrats on the girl! We are expecting our first baby (a little boy) the middle of April. We are doing browns and greens for the nursery. I can’t wait to see the projects and ideas you have for your nursery because I’m hoping to steal a few of them for ours!! :)
Ashley says
congrats on the little girl! I’m expecting our first in April and we are seeing pink as well. Can’t wait to see how your nursery turns out!
Ruth says
My best friend and hubby didn’t find out last year what they were having. They picked green, white, and brown. And said they could throw in pink or blue accents depening on what popped out. My nephew just turned one.
Jaime says
Congrats, S,J &B!
Poor John… has no idea what’s about to happen to him! ;)
LoriP says
so happy for you. girls get to wear cuter clothes, and there’s no question that mrs. younghouselove will eat that up like she does house renos.
ok, totally unsolicited and i’m sure you’ll have a whole list, but i invite you to take the name “abigail” (as if it were mine to give!) Long story short, despite picking it out my freshmen year of highschool for my future child (yet to be born), my parents adopted the name for, well, burger’s cousin. So I can’t exactly take the name for a future daughter anymore. That being said? It’s SO beautiful, has lots of nicknames (abby, gail), and means father joy. And after that posting? Father’s joy seems quite suiting.
Carrie says
We find out TOMORROW whether we’re having a boy or girl!
We have an 18 month old daughter now, and honestly would love either a boy OR a girl (just not a boy AND a girl at this point, please). ;-) Your post got me excited about finding out… I’ve mostly been focused on whether the little one is healthy or not, so I need to shift that to the excitement of finding out the sex!
Emily says
Congrats! Of my six friends to have babies (some of them multiple) over the past three years, they have ALL been boys. Glad to hear you’re balancing out the male baby domination over here in California.
Val says
Congrats! So happy for you, and what a fun way to tell your family! Can’t wait to see what you plan for the nursery:)
Anna says
so sweet! Congrats on a healthy girl
Dana says
Yip-to-the-yeeeee! Congrats, that’s gonna be one adorable lil’ girl. So happy for you!
We have two boys and didn’t find out the gender until each were born. Although, I had a feeling during both pregnancies that each was a boy. With each birth, we made the grandparents wait to meet the lil’ guys before we told them what gender they were. Our first son was born 9 hours away from my in-laws, so they had to drive 9 hours to the hospital before they found out! We love the anticipation and giddiness of surprises!
Jen says
Congrats, what a lucky little beanette!!!
With our first, we found out at the 20 week ultrasound that it was a boy. My husband was so excited that he literally jumped out of his seat cheering! It was the first grandson on my side of the family and the second grandson on my husband’s side of the family.
With our second, we again found out at the 20 week ultrasound. As soon as the tech told us it was a boy – my husband once again jumped out of his seat cheering. Then, he looked at me and said “i’m sorry sweetheart, we can try again for a little girl”.
With our third, we were NOT going to find out. Then, I went for an ultrasound at 13 weeks without my husband and the tech said “would you like to know what you are having?” I didn’t even know they could tell you at 13 weeks and all of a sudden I blurted out “yes!”. Well, it was a sweet baby girl! My husband was mad that I found out, but he was so excited that he forgave me (well, maybe it took a few days for him to forgive me!) My MIL cried when she found out it was a baby girl – her first and only granddaughter after having four grandsons!
Our 3 blessings are now 2, 4, and 6 years old!
LindsayB says
Congratulations guys! I’m so happy for you! :)
Leigh says
WOO HOO-HA! :))
Congrats!! I agree with keeping the nursery gender neutral with hints of pink. All my ultrasounds showed me as a boy and I popped out missing my male parts.
Carrie says
Congrats! Thanks for sharing such a sweet story…you guys are adorable. Enjoy planning and getting ready for your little girl!
wanderluster says
Congratulations John & Sherry! How wonderful that you will have a baby girl that hopefully will be as beautiful as Sherry.
Good thinking on the gender neutral nursery. My Chloe’s room was a pale yellow and we added the pops of pink after she was born. I’m not really a ‘pink’ girl myself, but seriously, with baby girl clothes and things, all the best stuff comes in pink! So go with the flow.
Nurseries really are THE MOST fun rooms to decorate. I love that so many bloggers are having kids (Making It Lovely, Little Green Notebook — did you read her birth story?! Amazing!!), because then you get to see the different creative takes on nurseries. Can’t wait to see what you guys put together. I know it will be perfect and sweet.
Kelly says
Congrats on your baby girl! Girls are so much fun! Also watching my husband with daddys little girl is so sweet! :)
Connie says
Oh how exciting…I can’t wait to see the nursery plans, I know u Petersiks are going to put a twist on a baby girls nursery that our little minds could never imagine.
Be sure to take time to enjoy yourselves before the Baby Beanette Petersik arrives. Life after beanies is completely different from any other life.
Allyn says
Yea for you!! I’m due May 2nd and also having a girl! Now I’m DOUBLY excited to see what you do with the nursery.
Congrats on your daughter!!
(And by the way – make sure you listen to the song “Daughter” by Loudon Wainwright immediately. You’ll cry your eyes out!)
valerie J. says
Yay! I’m happy to have been wrong about the bean being a boy. Little girls are SO sweet. I did a black, white, and yellow nursery for our little girl. I can toss in a boy color to the mix if one comes along in the future. Congrats again!
Elizabeth says
Congratulations!!
We waited to find out if we were having a boy or a girl, but ended up finding out a teensy bit sooner than expected when I started pushing and we realized that he was coming out butt-first. (Surprise!)
Emma says
We didn’t find out what our little one was until the delivery room, but EVERYONE was convinced we were having a boy. I had gotten really excited about the prospect (not too many boys in my family). Well, when the baby was born, no one announced what we had until my mother asked and my sister, who happened to have the best view, blurted out, “oh my god, it’s a girl!”
We were all surprised, but I wouldn’t have it any other way now.
Linda says
Aww…congrats on the Beanette!!!
Appi says
Hey Sherry and John,
Hearty Congratulations on the baby girl!!!
This is the first time i am writing to u though i have been a secret admirer of u n ur blog since almost a year.
All your posts are exiciting but none as exciting as this one…hence the note…:)
I have a baby girl too n she is now 10 months old…she was so shy everytime i had an ultrasound that we got to know her gender only after birth…
Having a healthy baby is important…so take care of urself and the bean…:0)
Congrats once again…
malibou says
Many congratulations! My little sister just had a baby girl, what a load of sweetness. Looking forward to seeing the nursery. You guys rock!
calliope says
I’m sooooo happy for you!
When I was pregnant I secretly (and of course every time anyone asked!) wished for a baby girl. And when the time came and the doctor said: “Congrats! it’s a boy!” my husband looked at me with a bit of…sympathy…! But I was so so so so so happy that my baby was ok and a boy that, at the time, burst into tears (the hormones helped, too).
I think that this moment is THE most happy, exiting and relieved moment of my entire life so far. It was just me and my absolut happiness.
Enjoy your baby girl’s every little step because it’s true: they grow fast!
Leslie says
Congratulations! I have three girls (5,4 and 1)! Girls are Great! We wanted a boy but we are done! You are going to have so much fun! Will you be registering any place that readers of your blog might purchase something for you-you know-us unknown extended family that wishes to share in your joy???
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Leslie,
You’re too kind! We have yet to figure out a registry but we better get our act together soon, eh? We also have family members asking the same thing so if anyone has suggestions about the best places to register we’d love to hear ’em!
xo,
s
Ashley says
Congratulations on your wonderful news! You two seem like you will be amazing parents. In my opinion, becoming a parent is truly the most amazing thing that can ever happen to a person.
When I was pregnant with my daughter we wanted to know her gender and she was never in the right position for us to see what that was. We had several ultrasounds with her and she kept us guessing until the big day.
With my second pregnancy, we waited longer to have our ultrasound because we REALLY wanted to know the gender. “Definitely a girl” we were told by the technician. We had all of the girl ‘stuff’ already. We moved my daughter into a new big girl room and the nursery was ready (already very girl-y). We told our families everything about our baby except her name. We wanted to have at least one surprise for everyone. I stayed awake nights fretting over the perfect name.
Finally the big day came. The baby was delivered and after a moments pause the doctor said “Folks, this is NOT a girl”. Pandemonioum broke out the in operating room. My husband was so excited, jumping up and down, that he broke our video camera. I was too shocked to speak.
We had the best time calling all of our family members and letting them in on the news. My dad cried (he had 3 daughters and 1 granddaughter and was SO ready for a boy in the family). My mom thought we had pulled a huge prank on her. It was great. My best friend bought something for him to wear home from the hospital, as we had only girl clothes. After a day or so we decided on a name. It was the best and biggest surprise of my life!
So….my advice for you is to perhaps hold off on washing every single one of those sweet little pink outfits until you meet your little princess in person. :)
Best wishes!
Sandy says
Just wanted to add my congrats on baby girl bean!! The fun has just begun!
Sarah (fellow 07/07 anniversary-er!) says
Congratulations again! It’s so exciting to find out… makes everything feel all the more real. Our little girl is due next month, and I have LOVED being able to refer to her as ‘she’ and ‘our daughter’.
We’re also not very ‘pinky’ people… have gone for a very pale purple in Sproglet’s room, with a mix of white and light wood furniture. The only ‘baby specific’ thing is her cot; everything else is adult-sized (i.e. normal 3 drawer chest of drawers… currently with changing mat on top, but when she’s out of nappies it can just be her chest of drawers!) so she can use it for many years to come.
2010 is going to be a good year!
Ashley House says
Congratulations! My husband and I are having a girl as well and she is our first. Emma Jane should be here around March 26th!!!
We had our sonogram on a Friday and had all our friends and family over to our house that night. We had ordered cupcakes from the Target bakery and asked them to inject some pink icing into the middle of the cupcake so you couldn’t tell from the outside if our little bundle would need blue or pink! We had everyone split into groups based on if they thought we were having boy or girl and then told everyone to bite in at once. Only about 4 of the 20 or so people there were right about it being a girl. Anyways, it was a lot of fun to break the news to everyone all at once!
Heyruthie says
same thing happened to us in the ultrasound. we couldn’t tear our eyes away, or imagine NOT finding out, once we were in the room!
Emily Zimmerman says
We just had a baby girl, Elle, eight weeks ago. When we had our ultrasound we also took along our two year old son. My husband and I were so excited to find out the sex of the baby and to have our son with us too. But it ended up that our son Tyler did not enjoy being at the doctor’s office. He was so cute in the waiting room, until we made our way back to the ultrasound room. He started panicking and getting upset. He was worried the doctor was there to see him. During the ultrasound he sat on my husband’s lap crying. My husband held him and comforted him and we both tried to enjoy seeing our baby on the ultrasound screan. The technician was having a little difficulty finding out the sex of our baby, so it came to a surprise to us when she announced, “It’s a girl!” Tyler was in mid scream. My husband and I asked her, “You said it’s a girl?” We almost missed the big announcement! Our experience wasn’t as I had planned, but I wouldn’t have wanted it without my husband and son both there.
Carey says
Congrats!!!! Enjoy all the cute sweetness that is baby girls :-)
We had a fun ultrasound moment while pregnant with our 3rd child. We were just hanging there with some goo, ready to see the 1st US at about 11 weeks. The dr. put the wand on my belly and turned the machine on and there on the screen was a perfect shot of 2 (!) little sacks with babies inside!!! We looked at each other and started laughing. Our daughter had been talking about having twins for a few months (and we just thought she was crazy :-)
Michelle says
Congratulations on having a baby girl!!! We found out we were expecting close to Christmas, so we gave each of the Grandparents Christmas cards that read: Congratulations……(inside of card) on being Grandparents again!!! Of course they were thrilled. It is fun giving baby news at Christmas!!!
shannon mignone says
Congrats! Can’t wait to see baby beanette’s nursery mood board :)
EmilyV says
Congratulations!! So happy for you both! I’m dying to know your baby name list! I love looking through baby names and I’m not even close to being pregnant. I know. I’m a huge dork. :)
Anne says
Congrats! I can’t wait to meet the little one.
stephanie says
congratulations!!! little girls are so fun!!! (but i’m biased)
Holly says
Ooh! We want a little girl soooo badly but we wont find out the gender of our little tadpole for ten more weeks! Just curious, how accurate was your chinese gender chart prediction? My husband is really hoping that ours doesnt pan out (he wants a girl too.)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Holly,
Well, the funny thing about Chinese gender calendars is that one said girl and another one said boy… so we can’t really say that they’re always accurate, it really depends on the site!
xo,
s