We’ve all watched the videos of the families around the dinner table surprising their kids by telling them they are expecting another baby. I personally love the ones where one kid is so excited and the other one cries like it’s the worst news ever. Even though those are funny I really didn’t want that to be the case when we told our kids we were expecting baby #3.
I honestly had no clue how they would react. The last time we found out we were having a baby our oldest was only 2. She was excited and sure she wasn’t having a sister and wanted her to come out and play immediately. This time was sure to be different. The sister that our oldest had expected turned out to be a sweet baby boy who is now 4 and she is now 7. I’m sure it will come as a shock to them because they haven’t been privy to the discussions of miscarriages and heartache that we have been part of our lives for the past 2 ½ years. My son stopped asking for a baby brother a while ago after I believe he got sick of hearing about how it’s not up to Mommy and Daddy, that only God knows how big our family will be. Actually, a week or so ago I heard both of the kids discussing the possibility of another baby in our family and they said, it probably wasn’t going to happen and that that was ok because they were good it being just the 2 of them. To which they hugged and high-fived. Great! Just great.
So here we are, far enough along where it’s safe to tell people so we agree we should tell our little people first. So what to do? Ok, let, see I know I’ll check Pinterest.
Oh, sweet hot hell. My heart palpitated just looking at all of the cute options on Pinterest. There is zero chance that I have that much time or patience to put something like that together. Ok, let’s try other options. Etsy! I love Etsy. It’s a perfect place for all of the people who are actually crafted to sell the items that I would love to be able to make but will never in a million years be able to execute. Yes, let’s try Etsy.
Nope. Nope. Nope. U-turn. Ctrl-Alt-Delete. Now I have even more heartburn after visiting that site. Ok time to pop a Tums (man I really am pregnant) and call the 2 friends who actually realized I was pregnant way before I intended to tell anyone. Ring, ring…or really text, text.
Oh my gosh. Note to self. Get less creative friends. Their ideas are adorable! I wonder if I can just outsource them to tell the kids and video it and send it over to me upon completion. Also, both involved waiting for a fun upcoming holiday which made me laugh even harder. Do these sweet girls not know me at all. I can’t wait 2 more months let alone 10 more days!!! Girls, now that that I’ve Googled things…I must act!
Where is that guy who wanders around here on the phone all day?. No, not my 4-year-old son pretending to be on a conference call….the really, really tall guy. The one who swears daily he has 2 more grey hairs. He must be here somewhere. One sec. Yup found him, in the bathroom on a call.
Sidebar: That’s weird to talk on the phone while in the potty. Straight up weird. Remind me to poke fun at him when we are in a group about that, he’ll love it.
Ok, so “hubster” has good ideas, cute ideas actually and he remembers that at some point I bought t-shirts that said: Big Little, Middle Little and Little Little on them. And since I was a Professional Organizer back in the day I should be able to put my hands on them pretty darn easily right? Ok hold on, let me go look.
Fast forward 7 days later…I found them. It will be a miracle if these still fit. Ok, so the plan is set. We are going to wrap the 3 t-shirts up and have the kids open them up and see how they react! We decided to record the event but not to invite any family over so that the kids feel comfortable to react in whatever totally inappropriate way they may feel like they need to react.
Fast forward again to P-Day (Pregnancy Day). The stage is set. The shirts wrapped, the kid are on the couch with eyes closed ready to find a few new gift and open it…ready, set…GO!
Ok ok, I won’t leave you hanging. It turned out super cute. No crying or sadness. Luckily our daughter can read, which of course I didn’t really think about beforehand so she could read what the shirts said for both of them. And after realizing there were 2 shirts for them and then 1 baby shirt for someone who wasn’t a baby cousin, our daughter whispered…”Mommy? Are you having a baby?” And here is my favorite part. The part I hope I never forget. I nodded yes and they both hopped up off the couch and flocked over to me and go really close to me and asked me a million questions and gave me the sweetest little hugs and snuggles on the planet and officially, my heart exploded once again!
Now, let’s see how they take it when we tell them we aren’t going to find out what sex the baby is until he/she is born!
