The Big News

       Well, the time has come. After keeping a wonderful secret between Luke & I, it was time to share the news about our sweet baby. Jill's birthday was May 29th and we thought we'd have the best gift to share..

       We went to see my OB-GYN that day and saw our first sonogram. Wow. I was amazed to actually see the heartbeat. I knew we would get the chance to hear it but actually seeing the beating was an amazing moment for me. At that point, the tears started flowing. How can you  see a beating heart when this tiny bundle is not even 8 weeks old... wow!

       So, back to the surprise... we put our tiny onesie into a gift bag and added one of the sonogram pictures into the bag. Once we handed over the gift, Kirk, Jill & Jacy were all thrilled. Lots of tears and rejoicing!!

       Before heading to NE, we wanted to let our California friends in on the news since it would become "Facebook official" while we were gone and we didn't want any hurt feelings. (By the way, do you know how hard it is to keep secrets with Facebook and family scattered in so many states?!?!) We shared with our Bible study the week before we left. After searching the internet high & low for a clever idea, I went to our pregnancy book and read the baby at 11 weeks is the size of a lime. Filling a vase with limes, I made a note that read "the size of BABY GUS due 1/10/13" and set it on the snack table. As people started arriving, no one had noticed yet but once Sarah noticed the vase, the news was out  :)

       I was determined to tell my family in person which meant I had 7 long weeks of secret holding ahead. But I knew it would be worth it. The day finally came to fly home. I'd called Eileen's cookies and had the announcement made and the plans were set. When we landed in Grand Island, Tyson, Sarah, & Brynn were there to take us home. I asked for a trip to Eileen's and we headed back to their house to wait for Zade to finish his nap at Grandma's house. Well, good ol' Tyson can't stand a secret and waiting about 30 mins to start asking what was in the box. Needless to say, he was pretty surprised! They were thrilled for our surprise. Next we headed over to my parents. I kept waiting for the perfect moment to reveal the news but it didn't seem quite right. Anxiously I waited through dinner until my dad was headed outside to do some work. Asking him to hold on for a sec, I ran to get the cookie, flipped open the box, and waiting for the surprise to hit. Surprisingly enough, my mom caught the news before my dad and then the hugs began.

       And finally, sharing with the Facebook world was a tough decision. I've seen so many cute ideas on Pinterest but the cute ideas were slowly being taken by all my pregnant friends and I was determined to be different. We saw this sign while in Hawaii and, although I had to push hard, I made a little bump for the photo (since I'm only 9 weeks here). I made a caption that read, "Hubby is going to be a daddy -- best news of the day, I'm the baby mama". It was fun!

So, now the news is out! Glad you could be apart of it.

-Crystal-