How we told our family

So there we were having our first "family moment" in the bathroom when we realized we had to decide how we were going to tell our family right away. You see, yet again I had always thought I would do something creative for how we told our family. A creative surprise handcrafted for each of our immediate family members: My parents, Tristan's parents, John Ryan and Bethany, Paul and Heidi, and Heather and Holly. That sounds lovely doesn't it? Did it happen that way...not a chance.

See, Heather, Tristan's sister from Colorado was staying with us, as well as Tristan's sister Heidi and her husband Paul(who just got back to the states and would be far away in virginia in a matter of days)...then later that evening we were picking my parents up from the airport, the next day Tristan's sister Holly was coming to town and then that weekend Bethany was coming to Austin to do the Capital 10k with me and my mom and I knew I wanted to tell her and John Ryan at the same time and there was no way I could keep it from her all weekend.

That's a lot of people all at once huh? How could we pass up the opportunity to tell so many of them in person? We couldn't. So rather than keep the excitement to ourselves for a while we decided to go a head and tell EVERYONE before the weekend was up(Remember it's still Wednesday March 23rd 2011 and Tristan and I are still in the bathroom).

After we decided to go a head a tell everyone we had a few more moments in the bathroom and then rejoined Heather in the kitchen making our sushi dinner. We sat down to dinner with Heather, Paul, and Heidi and I am sure I barley said a word. One, because my mind was spinning, and two because I was afraid I would let something slip. Heidi even asked me if something was wrong or if I was just tired from a long week. I don't remember my response...but I am sure I was awkward about it!

We made it through dinner and we were off to the airport to pick up my parents. We waited at the bottom of the escalator for them for what seemed like an eternity. Finally we saw them and we just stood there waving with the biggest smiles on our faces. My dad said that while they were coming down the escalator he turned to my mom and said we looked gitty! Well we sure were! They got down to the bottom,we hugged, I was quiet and made an awkward moment for all of us for a sec by looking back at Tristan and then back at my parents and then blurted out..."we're pregnant!" It was a sweet moment. Very surreal. And, I think my parents were as much in shock as we were about it!

When we got home Heather, Paul and Heidi greeted my parents and then we all sat down to visit. Tristan shortly after got up to make the announcement. For the past several years when he has an announcement to make he always says, "I have an announcement to make...and no..we aren't pregnant." So he decided he wanted to tell them in a similar fashion. He got up and said, "I have an announcement to make...and no..we aren't pregnant(a few seconds pause)....well...actually.....WE ARE!!!" It turned out to be quite the confusing announcement. But eventually they all believed us!

Holly came to town the next day and when she arrived I gave her a package and told her that I had picked up a gift for her while I was in Colorado. It was the pregnancy test wrapped up! She let off a big.."wahoo" and pretty much jumped off the couch!

A little after that we told Tristan's parents via skype. Tristan told them we had an amazing dinner the night before and I proceeded to lie about what we had saying, "we had baby carrots, baby peas, baby back ribs." etc.... they caught on pretty quick and it was awesome!! I think Heather got a video of their reactions. I hope to get it from her and post it on here because it's amazing. The way they simultaneously threw themselves back on the couch in laughter and glee was priceless. We were all laughing!

Finally we got John Ryan and Bethany on Skype and told them the news. John Ryan is on his way to becoming a world class wine Sommelier and the four of us have been talking about taking a day trip across Texas to visit several wineries. We all got talking about wine stuff on Skype and I said, " you know John Ryan, I don't think I am going to be able to partake in all the wine tasting and such for the next nine months." He was confused and gave his classic shocked crazy brow weird eye face...and then I think he asked, "Melissa, are you pregnant?" I said yes, and his response was one of my favorites...crazy of course....followed by Bethany's squeal. It was awesome!

Baby of mine, you are VERY, VERY, loved!