Now was the hard part of deciding when and how to tell people. Ideally, we would have liked to tell our family in person, but it was going to be hard to do with them living in Oklahoma and Kansas. We had originally decided to stay in Nashville for Thanksgiving so we didn't have to take any vacation days, but this seemed like a good reason to take a road trip.
Our first stop was in Poteau, OK at my mom's house the Saturday before Thanksgiving. My sister had driven up from Dallas and my Mimi was there as well. This was going to be good! I was so nervous, but only because I didn't know how to tell them. How do you spring something like that on someone? Like this - "Hey mom. Guess what? I'm pregnant." Crickets.... She shot Kelly a dirty look. Not because she was mad. She just thought this was some kind of mean joke and knew Kelly wouldn't lie to her. Kelly just looked at the ground and giggled. After the initial shock, she got excited and hugged both me and Kelly. She asked how far along I was and I admitted that I was already 14 weeks. But I still had some ammo...the ultrasound pictures. So I asked her if she wanted to see a picture. I quietly handed over the pictures from our very first ultrasound where you could clearly see two babies. Mom looked at me with a strange look on her
face and said "There's two!" Like I didn't already know. I remember she said that a few times, looking at my Mimi with this shocked look on her face. I still wasn't sure if she believed me or not. Everyone sat around the kitchen table the rest of the night staring at the ultrasound pictures and talking about whether we thought they were boys, girls or one of each. I still don't think it hit anyone yet.
Day 2 - Sunday before Thanksgiving.
We arrive at my dad's house for an early Thanksgiving Dinner with my dad's family. I knew this would be interesting and exciting all at the same time. I wasn't sure how everyone's mood would be seeing that just over a month ago we had lost my cousin John Michael and this was the first holiday as a family without him. We
had also lost another close relative just days earlier to cancer. So here we were as a family who had just lost two very close members and were feeling quite empty. I knew our family needed something to be happy about and I was beyond excited to be the one to give it!
I wanted to tell my dad first before anyone else and had planned getting to his house earlier, but it just didn't happen. Before I knew it, the whole family was there and I didn't know what to do. Kelly and I had rented a car to make all of our rounds and had ended up with a cool Dodge Charger (Another funny story. They tried to give us a Ford Taurus and I made the guy take me out to walk the lot and I picked my own!). To get my dad away from the crowd, I asked him if he wanted to check out our cool car for the week. Kelly and I walked with him outside and I
fished around in the backseat for my ultrasound pics while the boys talked cars. I finally told dad I had to show him something and just handed over the pictures. I completely caught him off guard (kind of hard not to), and I don't think it really sunk in with him either. Then he told me I HAD to tell everyone inside. I think he just wanted to see everyone's reaction.
My uncle Skip was outside walking the dogs and walked around the corner while the three of us were outside looking and talking about the ultrasound pictures. Knowing he could use a smile (and that he could keep a secret until I told everyone else shortly), I ushered him over to take a peek. He just smiled and said he had told my aunt Marsha that morning that he thought I was pregnant. Not by looking at me, as he hadn't seen me in over a month, but he just had a feeling that it was
"time".
We all ventured inside, waiting for a break in all of the visiting to tell everyone. Not knowing a thing, my uncle Dusty (being my uncle Dusty) asked me when it was time for Kelly and I to have little ones (I don't know why I was surprised because he always did this). Not everyone was in the room and I wasn't ready to spill the beans, so I hem-hawed around the question for the time being. Then he actually told me about his nephew on the other side of the family and his wife that had just found out they were having twin boys. He made a comment about Kelly and I having twins too. I still didn't say much, but mostly because I was shocked that my two uncles were calling me out - even though they had no idea!
Finally everyone was gathered in the kitchen and I knew who I wanted to target - Aunt Marsha and Aunt Karen. Their responses would be entertaining to say the least! So I told them I had a few pictures I wanted to show them. I handed them over and there was silence. (Wait for it.....) "AHHHHH!!!! Oh my Gosh, Oh my Gosh!!!" The screaming and hugging continued and then the news spread to the others in the room. My Nanny's response was classic. "Oh boy, Oh boy!" (Little did she know). Then we had to call my cousin SJ who was in NYC and tell her - more screaming! What a fun day!
After a nights stay in Shawnee with Aunt Marsha and Uncle Skip, we were off to Kansas on Tuesday to break the news to Kelly's family. We arrived and chit chatted for a long time. I kept giving Kelly these looks to tell them and he wouldn't do it.
Now he knew why I was so nervous telling people - there's just not a subtle way to tell anyone you're having twins! Standing in the kitchen, he finally told them I was pregnant. They were really excited and then he told them it was twins! I can still see the look on his mom's face now! A state of shock - the common theme of the week. It wasn't until the next morning that Kelly's parents realized what we had told them. Then we got to start the phone calls. I remember Kelly calling his Mamma and Pappa and these were his exact words - "We're having some babies!". Pappa thought he was talking about puppies! Again, they couldn't quite wrap their brains around it either. We called Kelly's aunt and her family - more excitement! Kelly's cousin Kristi said she knew I was pregnant when she saw me two months ago (I didn't know!). So funny how easily some people can see it!
Besides telling a few other close family members and friends - we let Facebook do the rest!
This is the picture that broke the news to everybody.
No comments:
Post a Comment