Fortune cookie gender reveal!

On Monday, we found out the gender of Baby #3. We actually made a whole day of fun out of it -- Dill took work off and we saw Catching Fire in the morning while my mom babysat Carson. (Such a good movie, by the way. It surpassed my expectations.) Then, we went to Costco to get a few Christmas gifts and some lunch, snagged Carson back from my mom and picked Audrey up from school early to make the gender reveal a family affair.

Baby was sleeping or something when the ultrasound technician initially took a peek, so this was the first face shot we got. Avoiding the paparazzi already. It cracked me up.

Then, we got a normal face-shot. Such a cutie already.



By the way, this was my first experience with 4-D ultrasound. Wicked-cool.

So, once we found out the gender, we went on our merry way and tried to figure out a fun idea for the gender revelation. Thanksgiving was only a few days away, so we thought we'd wait until then to tell our families.

I got this idea in my head that this should have something to do with fortune cookies. I Googled and saw that you can actually make them by hand, but the week of Thanksgiving? Well, ain't nobody got time for dat! Though, I once read somewhere that you can re-open fortune cookies using the microwave. I've seen them at Wal-Mart so naturally, on Thanksgiving Eve there I was at Wal-Mart with the rest of the human race, buying not stuffing, not potatoes, but ... fortune cookies. Because dang it, I was going to make custom fortune cookies for our entire family, all 40 of them, even if it killed me.

Though it was time-consuming, re-opening the cookies wasn't all that difficult. You just unwrap the cookie, wet a paper towel and wring it out, fold it hot dog style, roll up the fortune cookie loosely and microwave it for 30 seconds. This process essentially steams it right open. When you take it out, you have to move fast because the cookie will harden in about 30 seconds. You'll get scared because it's a bit hot, but just move fast and don't think too much about how your fingertips are starting to feel like they're on fire..

Pretty much as soon as I unwrapped the hot paper towel, the cookie started to fall open. I pulled out the old paper slip and stuck a new fancy one in, announcing the gender of the baby. Clammed it back up and folded it over the edge of a glass to create the pinched center. Dill and I made about 40 of them altogether and yes, our fingers did hurt. But it was worth it! What a fun, simple way to announce what you're having. Our families enjoyed it a lot, too.

Now, we'll pretend you got to participate in the fortune cookie fun, too. Here's the container:

Here's your cookie. Don't actually eat it -- they taste like cardboard.

Oh yeah, I cut my hair, too. Wheeee!

Now ... one, two ... THREE!

Yep, we're adding another little GIRL to the brood. We're super-excited!

Now to think of a name ...