Oh man, I’ve been looking forward to this past Sunday for months! We hosted a little BBQ with family and friends to ‘reveal’ the gender of Baby Spenla all together… and it was so much fun. Crazy, giddy fun as you’ll see in the short ‘revealing’ video in just a second! When I found out the sex of our new little babe I did these crazy little claps while jumping up and down and laughing. I was so overjoyed and totally caught-off-guard surprised!

But let’s start from the top!

My big Christmas present from Kevin this year was his agreement to learn the sex of this new addition prior to his/her arrival. I loved waiting to find out with Liv – there’s something about your first that makes it much more manageable! But I was really anxious to learn whether we’d be welcoming a boy or girl with this second pregnancy, and being the loving hubby that he is he agreed after a little arm twisting… and under one condition: we throw a Gender Reveal Party! Which I was all for.

So a few weeks ago we sent out a little evite to share the details of the Sunday afternoon party (Katrina helped to design that sweet little graphic there on the left since Evite is not privvy to Gender Reveal Parties just yet…). ‘Little Mister or Little Miss’ is a play on the nicknames Kevin and I have had for each other for ages (Mister & Miss) – and Liv is our first ‘Little Miss’.

Then last Tuesday we went in for our 20 week ultrasound…

And asked the technician to seal up the gender in an envelope so that we could open it later with our family (our awesome sitter helped to keep the gender a secret so that even we would be surprised with everyone else! I delivered the sealed envelope to her and she packed the box of balloons – even surprising us with yummy gender revealing cupcakes at the party).

Liv was actually pretty fussy throughout most of the ultrasound appointment (Kevin and I brought her along thinking she might think it was neat to see the baby in mommy’s belly), but at the very end we finally realized why. She just wanted a turn.

Finally Sunday arrived! It was time to BBQ and relax and enjoy a nice (chilly) San Diego afternoon.

We kept the event simple and low key with the exception of a guessing/wagering game and mandatory bows/bowties.

If your guess was a girl, then the clip on the back of the bow secured it to the top of your head. If a boy, then the bowtie could be clipped onto the collar of your shirt.

While everyone mingled and ate, I set out four jars to serve as our guessing game, and our kitchen chalkboard held Old Wives’ Tale clues. Aren’t some of those pretty funny?

The four wagering questions included guessing: girl or boy, date of birth, weight of baby and a name! Paper clips allowed you to attach a dollar bill to your guess if you were in on the wagering. The girl/boy and name guess were announced at the party for fun, the weight and date will have to be stored away for a few months before we see who wins.

Once everyone ate it was finally time! The sun was on the verge of setting, the anticipation was building and I couldn’t WAIT to tear open that box!

Here’s a little video that I put together for the big reveal that you might find pretty entertaining:

The lovely music is Valentine by Kina Grannis (I was lucky enough to go to school with her and listen along in coffee shops before she made it big).

Just in case you’re not in a place you can watch a video, here are some snapshots (taken from the video, so they’re a little blurry) of the big reveal.

Drumroll…

it’s a GIRL!!!!

I am so, SO excited for Liv to have a sister!

A few random side notes… I can’t believe Kevin kept his eyes closed for the first ten seconds or so! My eyes were pealed on that box. Did you catch the little air I got with the giddy jump? Pure shock. Also, I reached that far under the wrapping paper of the box (it looks odd in the video) at the suggestion of the wrapper so that all of the balloons could be released at once.

I should have had someone snap single shots as well because those are awfulllly blurry. Ah well.

The box packed full of balloons was an awesome visual for everyone to see (I’ve seen this idea roaming around Pinterest but I tried to keep it eco-friendly by not letting the balloons float off) and the gender revealing cupcakes were delicious! (thank you Kara)

Team Pink and Team Blue. We all thought boy! I had a very strong feeling this baby was a boy so I was especially shocked!

I’m over the moon ecstatic about welcoming a baby girl come June. I have always thought it would be so neat for Liv to have a little sister, and now she’ll have one close in age!! And as a family we’ve always pictured ourselves with three ish children, so perhaps that last little bundle will be a mini Kevin. For now, I have my girls and I couldn’t be happier!

Pink nursery/big girl room, here we come! I’ve been dreaming about you for ages…