the reveal

with our exciting good news we could hardly wait to tell our closest friends and family.  we had come to a consensus that we'd wait to tell the world until at least our first ultrasound or maybe the first trimester mark - but our families and closest friends, not an option.  not to mention, after christmas we weren't really sure when the next time would be that we would see all the family in one place again.  we're telling them...done!

we thought of photos in frames, cards, t-shirts that say "i'm a grandma" etc. but in the end we thought we'd go with something short, sweet & to the point with our immediate families.  with christmas coming we got each family an additional 'present' / card to open last for the evening. 

i got some tiny shoes for our little one.  i tried to go unisex but really just got boy ones because the girls could never be mistaken for unisex.  i paired little babe's shoes with just about every pair of mine and ben's in the house and started taking pictures.  i settled on this one.  ben's sperry's which are second only to his rainbows [says his feet] and my little yellow loafers.  i thought they were darling on our deck.  and who doesn't love shoes that are only two inches long?

i couldn't wait for them to arrive because i knew they're purpose.  they were the messenger, the way that all of our families would know that a little one even existed.  i wrapped them up quickly so that no surprise visitors might happen upon them, but before i did...i just stared.

we did two different versions for the card.

::version 1::

::and version 2::

[excuse the french...it was just too funny not do it]

i was so anxious to tell / show them / have them open these little pieces of paper.  how would they react?  would they be so excited, would they be worried, surprised?  who knew what would happen?  our plan was to wait about another year to start 'trying' - once ben had started teaching, got his feet under him, we were able to save some dollars.  but you know what they say about our plans. ha!

i thought about taking pictures or video of reactions to the news because i know they would be so sweet to have someday but i didn't want to miss it.  i didn't want to miss their faces and the emotion with my face behind a camera.  i think i'll remember it always - and i don't say that about much.

both of my families were stunned.  some people cried, some people cheered.  its was kind of crazy but in the most perfect way.  we loved having people celebrate with us. 

ben's mom on the other hand asked me point-blank if i was pregnant over christmas.  i just lied.  yikes.  i was such a liar keeping this secret!  maybe she has a sixth sense for pregnant people, or maybe i was just too tired for a normal person but she knew.  maybe we still surprised her a little though since i am so covert ;)  benny's family was so excited too.  chris [ben's brother] thought that we might be lying since ben has jokingly announced that i'm pregnant for years now.

we couldn't keep it from two of our closest couples either.  we went to the poston's maybe immediately after the day of our doctor's appointment, i'm not sure.  all i know is that i was dying to tell them.  ang guessed almost immediately what was going on.  they were so excited.  their little boy is one of our favorites in the whole world and they have been trying to convince us to give him a little friend for quite some time.

next we told the ridd's.  rach thought i was going to tell them we were moving.  they were much happier with this news!  but definitely floored.  it was perfect!

we also told my girlfriends around this time at girl christmas [which i've yet to post about...oops].  i had them open one last present together.  it was the tiny baby shoes from the picture.  jenna opened it for everyone - but really she took out the tissue and just look at it herself.  she said something along the lines of "shut up!" "no way!" or "are you serious?" while everyone waited for her to pull the little booties on out.  of course all the girls screamed and threw their hands up [what else would we do?]  some cried, that's what they do & it was awesome.

each of their reactions, each of their faces were priceless at every celebration.  such sweet joy & excitement being genuinely shared with us.

we truly treasure all the love and support that our family & friends have poured out on us.  i already know that this little baby is so well loved & it isn't even out in the world yet - how is that possible?  we are so incredibly blessed.