Since Amber and Jason said this is going to be their only baby, Amber decided to make a production out of finding out whether it was a boy or a girl... and a production it was. We were all given our marching orders and everyone was assigned to their designated duties in order to carry out this secret mission.
At the ultrasound appointment, the technician was told there was going to be a gender reveal party and no one in the room should see the sex of "Baby Ray". Amber wanted a picture showing "It's a .....", so the tech had everyone cover their eyes and turn their head while she captured the picture of the boy's or girl's bits and pieces.
The gender reveal photo was then put into an envelope and sealed, then put into another envelope and sealed a second time. The double envelope was handed over to Amber's friend Amanda with a promise and scout's honor she wouldn't peek. If she broke the seal, Amanda would have to hand over her first born... but then on second thought, we said never mind because we had enough kids coming already. But... there would have been heck to pay!
When Amber and Jason left the building, the ultrasound tech told the girl at the desk to call the cake decorator and tell her the sex. For almost 48 hours three people knew what the sex of "Baby Ray" was, and one of them wasn't me! It was torture... pure torture.
The cake decorator was waiting on the call. If the baby was a boy, the inside of the cake would be blue and if it was a girl, the cake would be pink. No one at the party, not even the parents, would know the gender of "Baby Ray" until Amber and Jason ceremoniously cut the cake to reveal the color.
It helped to pass the time until the reveal day, to go party shopping. Everything would be in pink and blue. There would also be pink and blue stickers so each person could vote on what they thought the color of the cake would be. I had felt "Baby Ray" was going to be a boy for a while now, so I was on the boy team along with most of the guests.
One of my jobs was to make a boy and girl sign for Amber to hold up announcing the baby's name. The girl's name was to be Dani Lynn. Dani after Amber's middle name Danielle, and Lynn after Richard and Kayla's middle name. The boy's name was to be Ryder Richard. Ryder was picked because that was the only name Amber and Jason could agree on without going into a leg wrestling competition to determine who would choose the boy's name. The middle name Richard, was in honor of Amber's Daddy, the baby's grandfather and my man.
When I was pregnant with the girls, Richard and I could not agree on a boy's name. Every name I came up with, did not meet Richard's approval. After months of baby names, I asked Richard if he might want a boy named after himself. His whole countenance changed and he said, oh... that would be nice. I just laughed and said, why didn't you say that months and a hundred baby names ago? I wasn't much on having a "Junior", so we agreed on naming our son Richard Ryan, and we would call him Ryan. Needless to say, with having two girls we never did get to use Richard's name.
Kayla and Amber both wanted to honor their dad by naming their baby boy Richard. A month ago we found out Kayla was having a girl, so once again Richard's name was marked off the list of baby names. There was still one more chance and it was almost time to find out.
The morning of the party finally arrived. The festivities were going to start at noon, so I was wanting the knife to be slicing the cake at 12:01. The house was decorated, the hamburgers were grilled, the guests had taken a seat... it was showtime.
Everyone was seated so that no one could see the color of the cake until Amber held the cake slice up for us to see. It only took a few seconds, but I don't think anyone blinked while we waited for pink or blue to appear.
Amber and Jason made the first cut, then the second cut to free the piece of cake. Amber raised the cake slice up to reveal a bright BLUE cake.
The room erupted with laughing, clapping and I'm pretty sure I jumped up and down a little. It was a boy! The signs I made were hidden in a cabinet where Amber was standing. She reached down, grabbed the blue sign, and said now we're going to reveal the name. She turned the sign around and said the baby's name will be Ryder Richard Ray.
Richard didn't move. He just stood there staring, but I knew that look. Richard was trying his best to keep his composure. With tears in his eyes, he was totally surprised and moved that his name would be given to his grandson. Kayla and Amber both wanted to honor their dad, and no one deserves it more than Richard.
We now know we have a girl, Kyla Faith, coming in July and a boy, Ryder Richard, coming in August. They aren't even here yet and our lives are changed forever.
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