10-07-2015, Capture Your Grief - Day 7, Memory

Today's assignment was to share a memory. It's nice to think about the good ones, not just life since she's been gone. One of the absolute best memories from our pregnancy with Abigail was telling our family that we were expecting again. Gary and I are both the oldest of four, so we knew our parents would be appropriately excited with the news. I knew I wanted to tell them in person this time. We haven't lived near either side of our family for sometime, and sharing baby news is so much more fun in person.

I spent a week or two scouting the internet - pinterest, baby boards, the works. I wanted to come up with something new. Announcing a new baby is about the most fun thing in the world. And it's a chance to be creative. With the first I sent a basket to my mom from her grandbaby, since we didn't live near by. With the second we had a shirt made up for our first, you wouldn't believe how long it was before anyone read it, I about blurted out the news. For our third, I lined up shoes and added baby shoes, with the note that we were expanding our house by 2 feet.

I finally came up with the perfect idea. I made up the signs, and didn't even read them to the kids. Our oldest two are learning to read, and I wasn't sure they could keep the secret so after the picture I hid those away. We live near Hershey, PA now so I put the picture in a little bag with some candy. It was a "sweet surprise" for them.

Our oldest had asked to join the Church, and both sets of grandparents were coming up for the baptism. We all went to lunch together on Saturday before hand at Red Lobster. Afterward, I let the kids hand out the goodie bags. When our parents opened them and began to read, the smiles were wonderful. We had video of it somewhere. They weren't expecting it. It was the perfect surprise, maybe the best announcement yet. So, then I got to talk about what I'd been bursting to share ever since they all arrived.

Here's the photo we gave them. It was taken May 22, 2015.
The signs read:

Britt: Been There
Ruth: Done That
Rebecca: Now it's MY turn! I'm being promoted to BIG Sister!
Gary: We have a sweet surprise.
Me: Baby #4 to adore, December 2015.