MARIAH CAREY AND NICK CANNON EXPECTING A BOY AND GIRL

Kevin Mazur, WireImage

In mid-December, Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon confirmed that they were expecting twins, and on Tuesday (Feb. 1) the celebrity couple revealed that a boy and girl are on the way.

The pop songstress broke the news to Life & Style magazine, explaining that until this point, she has been careful about broaching the gender issue. "Even before we announced it was twins, I was trying to keep everything gender-neutral because I didn't want to impose an identity on them too soon," Carey said. "There were fan contests on Twitter about what gender they are and rumors about them being two boys or two girls -- but nobody guessed this!"

Cannon confirmed the baby rumors on his radio show in December, telling listeners that President Barack Obama and his wife were the first ones to get the official baby news during Carey's performance at the White House for TNT's 'Christmas in Washington' special. "They, ironically enough, questioned my wife about, you know, 'So, what are you having, are you having twins?'" he explained of the conversation with the Obamas. "And at this point, she hadn't told anybody anything because doctors advised us to keep it to ourselves until we get further along. And because of the excitement, because of the emotion, she was overwhelmed [and] she shared with the president and first lady that we are having twins."

The twins will be Carey and Cannon's first children.