Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are hands-down the most gorgeous couple in Hollywood. And they also happen to be parents to two of the cutest celebrity children, daughters James and Ines!

Ryan and Blake first became a thing when they started dating in 2011 after meeting on the set of Green Lantern in 2010. By September 2012, the high-profile couple had gotten married and it wasn’t long before they started expanding their family. They welcomed their first daughter James in 2014, and their second daughter, Ines, in 2016. Now, the Lively-Reynolds family are one of the most kept-up with families in all of Hollywood thanks to their adorable offspring.

One thing this gorgeous family is known for, however, is being notoriously private. Blake and Ryan went to great lengths to conceal their children’s names and faces from the paparazzi after their births. Though the family has made public appearances with their daughters and are happy to talk about them to the media, they still limit how much the public sees or hears of James or Ines. That’s why there’s a lot we don’t know about this famous family!

Check out these 15 facts about Blake and Ryan’s parenting that will surprise (and maybe even shock) you. What were you the most surprised to learn?

15 She Makes Ryan Use Female Pronouns Around Their Girls

Blake has long asserted her commitment to raising empowered daughters, and she knows how important having dad 100% on board is.

The actress explains that she supported her husband using primarily female pronouns when their daughter was born, such as referring to animals as ‘her’ rather than ‘him,’ as society tends to do. Blake also discourages the use of the word ‘bossy’ in her house because of its belittling nature and negative connotation.

"But with my husband, I’m lucky to have someone who is so conscious," Blake told Glamour. "My husband was like, 'Why do I always say he?; And I said, 'That’s what we’re taught.' So he’ll pick up, like a caterpillar, and instead of saying, 'What’s his name?' he’ll say, 'What’s her name?' Or we’ve joked that my daughter is bossy. But my husband said, 'I don’t ever want to use that word again. You’ve never heard a man called bossy.'”

14 The Girls Don’t Get Nannies, Just Grandparents

So many famous folks rely on nannies to help them parent with their hectic career schedule. Heck, doesn’t Beyonce have like eight nannies for her three kids? But unlike other celebrity mamas, Blake Lively has made a commitment to no nannies.

This is obviously tough given that she and hubby Ryan still maintain very demanding careers despite having two little ones. As we'll get into later, the couple tries to make sure they’re never working at the same time; so one parent is always with the kids. But when both Blake and Ryan have to be away, she explains they rely on their parents to take care of James and Ines.

"My parents are pretty much the nannies! They are the best baby nurses you could pray for. They raised five kids so they know what they are doing,” she told Australian magazine New Woman.

13 Ryan Is The One Changing The Diapers

Ryan has been very open about the fact that he’s a hands-on dad. So much so, he often finds himself doing the brunt of diaper changing, simply because he’s happy too. All moms need a dad like that!

"I always do the dirty work," Ryan said on NBC's Today Show back in 2016. "I'm happy to do the dirty work. So does she, but I'm always, I love getting up in the middle of the night, I'm fine with that, you know, all that stuff." He added that it’s this sort of stuff that helps him bond with his daughters, which is especially important since he spends so much time traveling for work.

In 2016, Ryan was busy promoting his hit flick Deadpool, but he said it was hard staying away from his young family for so long. "I had one of those mornings, rare mornings, where my daughter just didn't want me to leave—and it was only because my wife was asleep," he said. "But it was like, you didn't want to go. Your just like, it kills you."

12 The Kids Were Not An Accident

Most celebrities never confirm whether their kids were planned or not. But Ryan put all suspicions to rest when he confirmed that both he and his wife had been actively trying- and there was no liquor involved in the making of James or Ines.

“One of the most common things in the world is making out, having a couple of drinks, and then doing it, and then having a baby. I was perfectly sober for this one though. I gotta say," Ryan jokingly said on Entertainment Weekly's SiriusXM show.

He went on, "It's amazing. I just always marvel how common it is and yet how profound it is. And I always laugh because you know celebrities you always cringe when they talk about their kids,” Ryan said. “Like 'my child is the only one that has ever exited a womb out, ever."

11 Blake Compared Her Girls To Something Unlikely

Whaaat? Blake actually once compared raising her daughters to living with substance addicts; though, knowing her, she meant it in the sweetest way possible. Both Blake and hubby Ryan share the same hilarious dark sense of humor, so we can imagine the Lively-Reynolds household must be a pretty fun place to be.

“Having a baby is just living in the constant unexpected," Blake told the LA Times. "You never know when you're gonna get crapped on or when you're gonna get a big smile or when that smile immediately turns into hysterics. It might be like living with a drug addict. But you have a baby and you think, 'I can't imagine ever not having a baby,' because they grow up so quickly. I'd be an 80-year-old woman with a baby if I could."

10 One Parent Watches The Girls When The Other Works

Both Blake and Ryan have exceptionally demanding careers. But because of their two little girls, the couple has made a commitment to try and not work at the same time. That way, one of them will always be home with the girls. On the other hand, that puts a toll on their relationship, since they have opposite work schedules and have to do long distance for a better part of the year. But Blake says that parenting comes with sacrifices- and that’s all too true.

“I admire people who find that what fulfills them is their art or their work, but what fulfills both me and my husband is our family. Knowing that, everything else comes second,” Blake explained to Glamour. “We’ve each given up stuff we loved in order to not work at the same time. I’m fortunate to be in a place now where I get to find the material—a book or script—early and develop it. So I know ahead of time that I’m going to be working on this job at this time. And we can plan around it.”

9 Ryan Regularly Makes Stuff Up About The Girls Online

Blake’s better half Ryan Reynolds is known for his glorious Twitter accounts where he hilariously and sometimes sarcastically tweets about what it’s like raising their two daughters. One of his most liked tweets was: “My daughter gets so pumped watching Disney films. She loves that they all have singing, dancing, and a part when the parents die.”

His tweets are sometimes outrageous and unbelievable at times, and that’s because he’s making most of it up, admits Blake. “He may as well work for the Enquirer. When he says ‘my daughter,’ he’s never, ever talking about her. Everything is a completely made-up scenario,” Blake said through laughs to Glamour. “He’ll run them by me sometimes just to make me laugh. But oh, I’m so in love with him when he writes that stuff. I mean, I’m in love with him most of the time, but especially with that.”

8 Their Daughters Are The Best Of Friends

All parents hope that their daughters will form a life-long bond, and it sounds like that’s happened for Blake’s two girls. Given how close they are in age (less than two years!), it’s no surprise they’re already close to each other. Blake doesn’t hesitate to gush over just how cute their bond is.

“Just seeing my older daughter be so infatuated with our younger daughter, who’s 4 months old,” Ryan said after the birth of their second daughter, Ines. “Seeing her kiss her and hug her and hold her and do all those things, those kinda crush me. Whereas they might put anyone else to sleep. But for me, that’s pretty cool.”

Another time, he added, “They look alike,” Reynolds said of his two girls during a GQ event. “You can see that she’s sort of a little mini version of our older girl. It’s great. It’s like an actually cohesive, working, functioning family. It’s amazing to see my older daughter taking care of my younger one. ‘The Lion King’ was right! The circle of life exists.”

7 Ryan Was Scared The Girls Would Be Boys

Ryan and Blake sound completely in love with their two little girls. But Ryan has been open about how nervous he was that they may have had boys, instead. The actor has explained that his family is known to primarily produce sons, so having two daughters was a delightful change.

"I'm terrified that I'm genetically predisposed to only having boys," Ryan told Details in 2013. "That's frightening. By the time I was 10 years old, and I'm not exaggerating, I knew how to patch drywall. There's nothing my brothers and I didn't put a hole in. We turned our home into a Wiffle house. That's something I'm not looking forward to."

We’re crossing our fingers that Blake and Ryan go on to have more adorable babies in the future, and we totally wouldn’t mind if that included a son or two!

6 The Girls Are Breastfed In Public

Blake has no problem breastfeeding her girls in public, which some people might find to be a controversial thing to do. But when you’ve got to eat and your mom is an actress, then what are you to do? Ryan sparked buzz when he shared a pic on Instagram of his wife breastfeeding one of their daughters, describing just how beautiful he thought his wife and little one were. The comments were mixed, with some fans saying the pic was adorable and others saying it was inappropriate.

Blake was also in the headlines for the same thing when she conducted an interview with the LA Times while breastfeeding her daughter James back in 2015. The writer holding the interview, Amy Kaufman, didn’t seem bothered by it. But she started her piece off by describing the situation as: "'Hi,' Blake Lively says, extending her free hand. Her other one is occupied, cradling her swaddled newborn, who nurses at her chest. She sits down on a couch, props a pillow on her lap and continues breastfeeding." We love that Blake is so confident in being a mama!

5 James Looks Identical To Blake When She Was A Baby

We all knew that Blake and Ryan’s kids would have good genes given who their parents are. But we didn’t expect them to be an exact replica of their parents. But here we have little James Reynolds. In 2016, her dad Ryan shared a side-by-side pic of his wife and daughter at the same age, showing just how much James looks like her famous mama. Absolutely adorable!

Ryan has always been vocal about his appreciation for Blake and what she does for their family. "I want to thank my wife, Blake, who is sitting right there who is everything to me. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me," Ryan said while accepting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. "You make everything better. You make everything in my life better. You've given me two of the most incredible children I've ever hoped to have."

4 Blake Won’t Let Her Girls Become Vain

Being an actress in Hollywood has exposed Blake to all of the unrealistic standards of beauty that women are held to. She’s expressed worry that her daughters will one day become consumed with trying to achieve these standards, especially since they’re growing up in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood- or, are at least are used to seeing their mom and dad enjoy it.

That’s why Blake has said she’s committed to ensuring her girls know that outside beauty isn’t everything. “There’s this awareness of what they’re going to be exposed to and what they grow up seeing,” she previously told Refinery29. “For me, it’s important for my daughters to know that it’s not real life. They’re seeing me dressed up in all this hair and makeup, but they also see me without that. I want them to see both sides, because there is never just one side.”

3 Their Kids Aren’t Instagram-Perfect

So many celebrities (and normal people too, tbh) try to make their life seem picture-perfect on social media. They make it look like they’re super mom and their kids are perfectly well behaved, clean clones of them. But that’s just never the case!

Both Blake and Ryan have always maintained very down-to-earth personas on social media. The couple work to maintain the privacy of their daughters, so they rarely post any photos of them to their large followings. But the parents are known to tweet or reference them in Instagram comments. And, when they do, they make sure to keep it real about the fact that their family life is far from perfect.

"Her toddler is giving her reflexology massages. What?!” Blake has said about following that perfect mom on Instagram. “My kid is like playing with explosive devices. I don't know where she found them. She already knows how to drywall because she puts holes in the wall."

2 Ryan Prioritizes The Girls Over Blake

Who are you supposed to love more: your spouse or your kids? Some people may have a tough time answering that question, but not for Ryan. He once explained that his priorities completely shifted when he had a kid. Suddenly the person he would always protect and put first became his daughter. Swoon!

"'I would take a bullet for you. I could never love anything as much as I love you.' I would say that to my wife,” Ryan said on The David Letterman Show. “And the second I looked in that baby's eyes, I knew in that exact moment that if we were ever under attack, I would use my wife as a human shield to protect that baby.”

We guess Ryan’s paternal instincts kicked in full throttle at that moment! And we have a feeling Blake doesn’t mind one bit.

1 There Will Be Many More Kids In The Future

The world is OBSESSED with Blake and Ryan’s mini-me’s, Ines and James. So we’re thrilled at the possibility that this gorgeous couple might be passing on their genetics to another little one sometime soon. Actually, both Blake and Ryan have confirmed they want a big family, so we have a feeling they’re not just going to stop at two.

"I've always wanted a big family," Blake told Allure in 2012. "Oh, I'd love 30 [kids] if I could." Then, in 2013, Ryan dished to Details, "We'd love to have a big family. We both come from big families — my parents did four, Blake's did five,” he went on. “A lot of people say it's crazy, but we'll only know when we're there, you know? We'll walk through that fire pretty happily, I think."

Sources: E! Online, US Weekly, People Magazine, PopSugar, Glamour