Our Gender Reveal Party, It's a ........

We wanted to let everyone be in on the fun of finding out what Heavenly Father was sending us.  When we received the test results from our Cell Free DNA, I stuck the note on the fridge and never opened it.  That note could have held the secret to the gender of our babies.  We'd been told that with twins, the results would only tell us if there was at least one boy.  The only definite answer would have been if we were having two girls.  I wanted a more definite answer.  We weren't sure we were going to get one.  I've had four babies.  With Jacob, I found out at 17 weeks.  With Elizabeth we found out at 36 weeks.  Isaac and Miriam were complete surprises due to lack of cooperation.  We don't have a very good track record for finding out early and this time, we needed two compliant babies!

At our anatomy ultrasound 4 weeks later, we told the technician that if he could find out, we didn't want him to tell us, we wanted him to write it down and seal it in an envelope.  He was convinced he could tell, so wrote it down and handed it to us in a sealed envelope.  Dode was such a tease.  The technician would tell us to look away and I would dutifully turn my head.  Dode?  He kept staring right at the screen.  He said he can never tell what they're looking at anyway, so there was no need to look away.  I brought the envelope home and waved it in front of the children before putting it on the side of the fridge.  They started to scheme of ways they could open it without me detecting their crime.

The next day, I took the envelope down to Dollar Tree and told the clerk that I was pregnant with twins, but didn't want to find out what I was getting until my family was all together.  I asked her to open the letter and inflate the correct "It's a ...." balloons and seal them up in a large box.  She excitedly agreed to do it.  We wandered around the store for a while, careful to not look to the front where the balloons are.  After a sufficient period of time, I asked Dode to go make sure it was done and we made out purchase.  I was careful to not check the receipt because I was worried it might say what balloons we bought.

The next day was Sunday and we gathered for the big event.  It was a glorious noisy party in the Dorrel Dickson family tradition.  The loud playing of children filled the rooms.  Two dogs were racing around chasing each other.  In addition to Dode and I and our children, my mom and Greg along with their pug Ramirez joined us, my nephew Gabriel was the final representative from my side of the family.  From Dode's side we got: his Mom and Dad, his sister Sheri with her husband Joel and their two kids, Dode's Dickson grandparents, his Aunt Viv and Uncle Dave and Harry the dog.  It was a fun group.  We squeezed together in the living room and Dode told me I should give everyone a little background before we opened the bin.  Each time I started to tell the story, the dogs would race through the room to the joyous delight of the children who would burst into laughter.  Once Harry was safe in Dave's arms, I could talk without interruption.

We counted to three and opened the bin.  Out floated.... one balloon.

Miriam looking inside to see if the other balloon deflated.

I was puzzled.  Did this mean they were both the same gender and Dollar Tree was trying to save me a buck?  Thankfully, they'd left the technician's letter in the bin.  We read the letter to discover we're getting one of each, a boy and a girl.  It's just what I was hoping for!  Although the gender reveal didn't turn out exactly as I was planning, I think the snafu made it even more fun.  Life isn't perfect and sometimes it's the bumps in the road that make for the best laughs.  The party was absolutely perfect.  I felt like we were literally bathed in love.  It will be so wonderful when we can gather again and pass these precious babies around to our family, but maybe the dogs should settle down before then!

a glimpse of loving family chaos

Not the photo op we were planning on but it works!