Its a BOY!

I am sure you saw on social medial that my husband and I are welcoming a sweet baby BOY this fall. If not, shameless plug here… go follow me! Well, we couldn’t be more excited to find out and really wanted to make is something special.

I of course in the beginning wanted to throw a traditional gender reveal party. Actually, I’m not sure how “traditional” they are, I should probably write newest baby trend over the past few years…but anyway, I digress. I wanted to have our family over and do a big exciting, camera in your face reveal. My husband…did not. It wasn’t like he was a hard no, but he really wasn’t into it. Also, truth be told, I’m really, really bad at planning events for myself. So, we went a different route and did a private surprise reveal for just the two of us on our baby moon 2 weeks ago. (More to come on the baby moon trend too because it was legit amazing) Our reveal was a unique, fun and private event.

Plus, it was totally us. From the beginning we have been locked into each other and really avoided the influence of trying to be like what society or anyone really tells us we have to be like. I mean, Noah’s proposal was just the 2 of us, no cameras. Our wedding on NYE was very intimate with just our parents (read about it here). So, it makes sense that finding out the sex of our baby went the same way…just the two of us, intimate, and raw.

First of all, shout out to 3 key people involved in the set up. My cousin and MOH who coordinated the entire thing, Peek-a-Belly 3D imaging, and the Don Cesar hotel. Basically, my cousin set up a call between Peek-a-Belly, who had our gender results, and the hotel customer experience coordinator who set up the big surprise.

SO, when we checked in,the front desk gave us a blue “it’s a boy” and a pink “it’s a girl’ ribbon to amp up the anticipation. Not that I needed it, I was practically hyperventilating, but it just made it that much more fun. As we walked off the elevator, we inched closer to our room, and took a deep breathe before we opened the door. We turned the corner and saw all of the decorations!

ITS A BOY! BLUE EVERYWHERE! TEARS EVERYWHERE!

I just knew it was a boy, I had a feeling from pretty early on. I cant explain it, I just had a feeling. But I LOST IT when we walked into that room. OMG, I cant even tell you the amount of ugly ass tears I cried. I would’t have never in a million years been my true self and had that authentic reaction if we shared it with family or if I knew I was being filmed. I would love to be the person to tell you I would have, but I wouldn’t of.

Getting to share that moment, in such a fun, dramatic way, privately was perfect. Neither Peek-a-Belly or the hotel had ever done a gender reveal like ours before, it was a unique experience for all of us.

I’m sharing our story, not to sway you from throwing a gender reveal party if thats what you want to do, but for 2 reasons. 1- don’t let society try and make you feel like you have to do anything that you don’t want to do ever. But 2- this was our first fun decision we made as a couple for our little growing family. I alongside my hubby are doing nothing but #becomingwiza about all things parenting. We get to decide how we want to do things. We get to determine the tone we are setting, the traditions we want to start, and who we want to be involved. No matter if you want to find out the gender with a big party, a small one with family, privately like us, or damn not find out at all…its your prerogative.

As much as I love social media, sometimes I feel so much pressure to “do the things”. But like damn, can we call agree how crazy that is? I felt like I HAD to do a big a party, when really…it wasn’t my jam in the first place. If its yours, super cool! I have a girlfriend who literally threw the most gorgeous gender reveal, decked out with perfect details and fireworks. If you’re reading this and you’re like her and thats whats on your heart, I encourage you to do it. But try not to throw this party, or any party really just because you feel like social medial requires you to.

So, to my fellow expecting mamas, wanna be mamas, girls who know a mama, raising her children in a world full of social medial pressures, I BEG you to remind her to stay true to herself. I BEG you to dig deep or as a friend, to remind her of the important things to really make an impact.

Finding out the gender of our baby was one of the first ways in todays society we narrated our journey as parents. How are your narrating your life? Are you letting social media pressure you or are you in the drivers seat?

xoxo

Lyss