Once the test had confirmed the pregnancy, Mike & I put together a plan and figured out when would be the perfect time to make our public reveals.
The next big baby reveal was to my family on September 8th, 2010 . It had been on the calendar for months that I would be travelling to Searcy this particular weekend to help my mom get ready for her first big trade show for Red Suit Studios. Mike and I originally wanted to wait until Thanksgiving to tell all the immediate family, but once we saw how sick I was during my first trimester we knew there was no way I could stay with my parents for 10 days and them not realize something wasn't right. So we decided it would be best for Mike & Martini to join me for the weekend and we would tell the Johnson clan then. Unfortunately, my sister was living in Florence, Italy for the semester so she wasn't there for the reveal, but we had something special planned for her later.
The next reveal was to our life group. We have been in this life group for almost 8 years and these families hold a special place in our heart. We knew the month of November was going to be crazy for us since we were traveling to Europe and then had the Thanksgiving Holiday in Arkansas. So we decided the reveal should happen at our "Annual Life Group Chili and Pumpkin Carving Party" on October 30th.
We wanted to share our news in a unique way, so I thought it would be a great idea to carve our announcement on a pumpkin. That evening, once all the pumpkins were carved and lit, they were placed together so everyone could take pictures. While everyone was looking at their great carving abilities, Mike went and lit our special pumpkin and added it to the group officially announcing our pregnancy!
Unfortunately, the night of the party we were without a few of the members due to sickness, but we had a great time revealing to everyone that was there.
We revealed the news to Mike's parents on November 14th. For this reveal we travelled all the way to London, England! We had arrived to London very late on the 13th and decided it best that everyone get a good night sleep before we shared our news. So the next day when Mike's parents got back from church we handed them a little wrapped gift. I think they were more that just a little surprised to open up a little onesie:)
(while in London we found the cute onesie in the picture)
On Thanksgiving day we made our final reveals. Not only did we call both of Mike's brothers and shared our exciting news with their families, we also Skyped with my sister in Florence, Italy. We knew ahead of time we were probably going to be able to talk to her that day via Skype, so along with her birthday present my mom sent an envelope that read "Do Not Open Until We Skype On Thanksgiving!". I don't think she peeked because she was totally surprised when she opened the envelope and saw this:
An extra treat was that my Aunt Sara and her boyfriend came for Thanksgiving dinner and were there while we Skyped with BJ so they got to hear the news too.
One special reveal that I made over the phone a few weeks ago was to my best friend and cousin Maya. Since she lives in St. Louis it just wasn't possible to tell her in person. Much to my surprise when I told her our great news, she had great news of her own...she was expecting too!!! Even more exciting is that she is due on May 14th, just nine days after me. I am so thankful that I will get to experience this journey with such a special person!
A big thanks to everyone for making this such a joyous time. It was so much fun letting everybody in on our little secret!
(Ultrasound Picture from 8 week OB visit)
