Telling the family...

It had been exactly a week since I'd found out, and keeping our wonderful secret from our family was absolutely, unnervingly exhausting! I tell my family everything. We're very close, and very open and honest with each other, and making up stories about going to the gym instead of the doctors was making me feel guilty when I should have been excited to share our plans.

It was father's day weekend, and we had decided we'd tell my mom on the Friday night. We asked my brother and his wonderful girlfriend to meet us at my mom's after work, and we picked up mom's favorite dinner - fish and chips. Things were chaotic when we got there because one of my brother's best friends showed up before my brother and mom arrived. He is like part of our family since we've known him since he was about 8 years old, but I still needed to be alone with my family for this ever-important announcement. By the time he left, everyone was starving, so we ate dinner first. I could hardly eat... my stomach was full of knots.

After dinner, we passed out gifts "from San Francisco". My mom looked at us inquisitively. I started filming as they opened their gifts - which were actually onsies with Grandma, Uncle, and Aunt on them. Here is their reaction:

It was perfect, and my mom was so very excited. She'd had her suspicions but didn't want to get too excited before it was for sure! Since then, she's been so proud to tell her friends that she's going to be a grandma! She also calls me Every.Single.Night. It can be annoying cause if I don't answer, she calls me until I do, but I understand her anxiety about wanting to make sure that her grandbaby was doing ok.

 

On Saturday, after a picnic on the beach and some running around, we headed out to Chilliwack to visit my in-laws. After some visiting, we handed his dad is Father's Day gift.

 

At first, my mother-in-law thought the Grandpa onsie we gave him was a little jacket for their chihwawa, but then when she clued in, it was precious. She, Aaron, and I all cried. After dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant, they announced it was the best father's day they could imagine. My mother-in-law called my mom right after we left and they bonded over their new titles!

Sunday was time to tell my dad! We spent the day cleaning the house, shopping, and getting ready for the bbq at my dad's house. We showed up with ribs, salad, potatoes, corn, lots of appies, and a homemade chocolate cake.

Once we sat around the living room (it was raining out) eating the appies I prepared, I couldn't take it any longer and pulled out the gift to give him. The box was a hand carved wooden box I had given Aaron on our pre-wedding date night, but Aaron graciously agreed to give it to my dad as a father's day gift. Inside the box was a bottle of wine with a homemade label. Here is my dad's reaction:

As you can see, Wendy caught on pretty quickly after reading the label, but it took my dad at least 3 times to finally catch on. He was a little embarrassed that it took a while, but once he realized the meaning, he was over-the-moon thrilled. I was crying the minute it registered, he was crying, Wendy was crying, and my brother was crying. I think I've only seen my brother cry 3 or 4 times since becoming an adult, so this was a very special moment. After hugs and congratulations, my dad disappeared and emerged with a bottle of champagne. We toasted, and I had one sip before passing it on to my brother. We had dinner, dessert, and lots of fun talk about the baby before we said goodnight with more hugs and a few more tears.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend of making our parents grandparents, and we are so happy that they were as excited and emotional as we are about this impending change in all of our lives!

Next: I tell my girlfriends!