Telling Our Families the News

So like I said before Ryan and I wanted to announce to our families.  Originally the plan was to wait until Valentine's day but that was two weeks away and I knew I couldn't last that long.  I commend people who go weeks or even months before announcing.  Here is the flip side of that.  My thought on waiting to announce was this... I completely understand why people want to wait.  You wait to make sure you are in the clear, out of the woods, and in the safe zone.  You wait to make sure you don't miscarry.  I so understand that!  However for me, I knew that if something did happen to our baby I would want to lean on my friends and family for support and love so they might as well share in our joy now!  And I guess if something happened, first of all it would be God's plan and my family and friends are the best so I would call on them for support.  

So anyways, we started telling family a few days after our initial surprise!  Ryan went ice fishing with his dad the weekend we found out.  The original plan was not to tell our news but to wait until I could have onesies made for our parents.  But I got a text from Ryan on Saturday morning that he was alone in the ice house with his dad and it was killing him not to tell his dad the news.  So I called Ryan and he put me on speaker phone.  We announced the news to Bill that he would be a Grandpa!  Papa Hannay!  He was so happy for us and excited!  I was glad Ryan could have that moment with his dad and that Bill could be one of the first to know.

A picture from the cabin/ice fishing weekend...

  The following week, I wanted to tell my family before we went to AZ for our trip.  So I slipped the secret to my sister a few days early so she could help me orchestrate the surprise.  We did an 'impromptu dinner' at her house on that Thursday evening.  Like I've shared my parents just moved to a house in the country so I figured I could get away with having a 'housewarming gift' to surprise them with the news.  We got to my sister's house early so we could have my niece and nephew help with the gift giving.  Jaxon wrote a housewarming card and the plan was for the grandkids to give my parents this gift.  Once everyone got to my sister's house, everyone sat in the family room.  Jaxon gave my mom the gift box.  My mom read the card and thought she was getting a housewarming gift from her three grandkids- Jaxon, Laura, and Rose.  She opened the box and pulled out the onesie I had made.  On the front it said "Grandpa and Grandma's Country Bumpkin"  My mom's response- oh how cute!  it's adorable!  She turned the onesie over and read "Ready to be loved in October" and then it all made sense to her.  She put the onesie down and said "Where's Kari?"  I was sitting across the room from her and she jumped up and I said "We're having a baby!"  Everyone squealed with excitement and hugs went all around.  Probably the most special part of that was that my dad had to sit back in his chair and fight the tears from coming.  I was so happy to share the moment with my whole family- Grandpa and Grandma, my parents, my brother's whole family, my sister and niece, and Ryan.  

 So after announcing to my family, we left for Arizona.  The following week, Ryan's mom and stepdad were out of town in AZ for a work convention.  We didn't want to tell them over the phone so we waited for them to get home.  They were back to work on Tuesday so after a working meeting in the morning, our plan was since everyone would be in the office that afternoon we would announce then!  When Dawn finally got in the office and ate her LENGTHY lunch (I was dying at this point!) she finally made her way to her desk.  Ryan sent out an 'out of office' notice for October 8th stating that we would be at Labor and Delivery for their new grandbaby.  Ross of course got the email first and came down to our office and said congratulations!  He knew Dawn would take longer to get to her emails so he tried to hurry her along.  He went to her office and said did you see the email from Ryan?  She was annoyed that Ross was rushing her to her emails.  She said she would get to her emails once she went to the bathroom.  SERIOUSLY?  I'm just about dead at this point.  After a potty break and getting settled back into her office, she found the email notification of our 'out of office.'  She came running down to our office and was surprised and shocked as to how we just announced to her!  We laughed and hugged!  We had to recount the story of how we found out, how long we had been holding on to our secret, and how Dawn and Ross likely will not be traveling to Italy for the month of October this year!  Sorry guys but at least you'll have your grandbaby!  It's Dawn's 50th this year so I think a grandbaby is a perfect present!  

     Cheers,