Well, if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you would know by now that my fiancé and I are expecting to welcome our second baby by the end of Winter 2017! We are so thrilled for this next chapter in our lives. To finally watch our only son Ethan become an awesome big brother is definitely one of my happiest moments in life.
When we had our first baby, we were young teenagers still on the verge of growing up, and now that we're older and more settled in our lives together, it feels so much better to announce a pregnancy, which is why we wanted to announce it to our family and friends in different and special ways.
So today, that's what I'm doing; sharing the special ways we announced our pregnancy, so let's get right on into it.
TELLING MY FIANCÈ
Of course the first announcement was to my incredible fiancé. I didn't do anything special because when it comes to sharing things with my partner, it takes a lot for me to keep something a secret from him, even if it is a wonderful surprise, since we quite literally share everything with each other.
Basically, I already had a bit of a hunch that I was pregnant seeing as my monthlies are the only constant regulars in my day-to-day norm, and for once I was abnormally late. I'd decided to take a pregnancy test, but it was about 8pm at night and usually that's when your hormones are at their lowest, so it didn't register properly. However, I saw a very very very faint second pink line, but I couldn't depend on it. So the next morning, I took a test with my very first urine of the day (according to the internet, that's your best bet on getting an accurate reading), and after 2 minutes, there it was - two very visible pink lines.
I was so shocked and excited, I rushed out of the bathroom and accidentally shoved the pee-infested stick in front of my partner's face. It was really early though so he was sort of half-asleep and replied blankly with an "oh, wow.." but my excitement was through the roof, it covered enough emotions for the both of us. When he came to, he was a little skeptical about it, so we went out and bought more tests and every one of them came back positive. He still didn't really believe it, not until we finally went to the doctors and had it confirmed through numerous tests.
TELLING OUR SON
Once my fiancé and I finally let it sink in, we decided not to tell Ethan straight away. Although the tests from the doctors confirmed what we had hoped to be true, we didn't want to get his hopes up since he's been wanting a sibling for the longest time. But once we had a few more tests done, and a positive confirmation from our doctor, it was time to think of a creative way to tell our beautiful boy that he was going to be a big brother!
At the time, he was obsessed with the ridiculously annoying and cellular-data-eating gaming app called Pokemon GO! so we thought creating our own little personalised "playing cards" were perfect for letting him know a baby was on the way.
After some editing, printing and cutting to fit it into a small box we'd purchased earlier, we hunted for a plush toy of a Pokemon ball to tie it altogether - and voila!
That afternoon, he was spending time with our in-law family, as he does twice a week. We decided to tell them at the same time as he would find out, but with a completely different announcement in a separate box.
Ethan's reaction was hilariously everything. At first, he was confused because he couldn't figure out how we managed to make a Pokemon card with personalised details, but then he realised what the message had said. He was finally going to be a big brother, and his eyes got wide, his smile got big and his face lit up!
TELLING OUR FAMILIES
At the same time as announcing it to Ethan with the Pokemon ball, we made my soon-to-be in-law family open up the box alongside him, so that they would find out together. It definitely didn't take long for them to see the pregnancy test and scream, "oh my god, are you pregnant?!" before even reading the text we had included. Then not long after came many hugs, so much excitement and a bunch of 'congratulations'. It had finally sunk in for everyone that we were adding another member to our family.
After seeing how joyous my in-law family was, we'd decided to use this way to announce the pregnancy to my brother and his wife, and also my grandmother.
But before that, I had actually announced it to my little brother waaaay before anyone else. We were headed to my now-sister-in-law's bridal shower, and afraid that there would be some champagne toasts I couldn't avoid, I had to tell him early on to be my scapegoat in case I was offered any alcohol. Naturally he freaked out that I just dropped an insane bomb on him minutes before he had to act cool and like nothing interesting had happened.
My grandmother already had a bit of a hunch because I was taking a lot more sick days off work (because the nausea/dizziness was kicking in quite soon into the pregnancy), so there was not much of a surprise when she found out, but my brother and his wife's reaction was probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
Ethan had handed them the box to open and at first, they were reluctant on opening it because they thought a prank was in their hands, but once they finally opened up the box, my sister-in-law immediately looked at my brother with a massive smile, then looked at us, then back at him. All whilst my brother had been trying to figure out what it meant (he's never seen a pregnancy test before *eye roll*) so he was focused on reading what the text meant. Once they realised what we were announcing to them, they asked us if it was true and of course, we confirmed it and there was excitement and happiness all around. Not only were they excited that they would be aunts and uncles again, but they were excited for Ethan to be a big brother!
When we found out, my parents were overseas with relatives in America, so at that time, we couldn't announce it to them face-to-face or wait until we saw them in person because they had literally just left the country for a month-long trip, so we had to get creative with our weekly Facetime conversations.
There's not much you can do over video calls when it comes to making creative announcements, so we settled for writing up a little clear but concise message and printing it out - however, considering it was going to be shown through Facetime, we had to flip it before printing it so that it could be read on their side of the conversation.
After much squinting and trying to read what it said, my parents asked "who?!" hoping it was my older brother and his wife announcing their baby news, but instead, Ethan, Henry and I smiled and said it was us, and they congratulated us. A lot of questions were asked like how were we doing and what did the doctor say, but all in all, excitement was again around for they were going to be getting another adorable grandchild to spoil.
Now finally to the way we announced it to our extended family and close friends.
It didn't take us long to figure out that this was how we wanted to share our news because we thought creating a banner was absolutely perfect. The holidays were coming up, so we would be gathering with our family and close friends soon enough.
My fiancé will deny this at all costs, but he is extremely talented when it comes to drawing, so I wasn't worried when he became more than keen to create this banner for our big news. He did an incredible job, and I love that he included Ethan in the artwork by having him colour it in. It became such a personal piece of work for us, and I love that our baby will see it one day and see how excited we were to tell everyone about them.
We recorded the reactions of our extended family and close friends in separate videos, but for their privacy, I won't be posting the videos, so all I'll say is, till today, I still watch those videos on repeat to relive the love and joy that was expressed through them finding out our special news.
We are very lucky to have all of these amazing people in our lives to share this with.
Once everyone significantly important in our life knew our big news, it was time to let the rest of our world know. I immediately fell in love with the idea of using a chalkboard and decorating it with pictures of us, for a simple grassy snap on all of our social media accounts. I have a messy writer's hand so again, my fiancé had to do the typography, but it turned out so great, and I'm so happy with it.
It's simple, and straight to the point. Baby number two will arrive in August 2017!
We are so over the moon. Extending our family has always been a part of our plan. Finally living it through together has been incredible, and it's a journey we're all very much looking forward to.
My fiancé, son and I would like to thank everyone who has congratulated us, celebrated with us and supported us during this super exciting time in our lives. We are so grateful for every single one of you!
I'm so excited to go through this journey with you guys, and to document everything on here. From announcing it to you guys, to talking about every trimester and the symptoms that came along with it, to finally introducing you to our brand new bub; I hope you'll come along with me on this ride!
After seeing how joyous my in-law family was, we'd decided to use this way to announce the pregnancy to my brother and his wife, and also my grandmother.
But before that, I had actually announced it to my little brother waaaay before anyone else. We were headed to my now-sister-in-law's bridal shower, and afraid that there would be some champagne toasts I couldn't avoid, I had to tell him early on to be my scapegoat in case I was offered any alcohol. Naturally he freaked out that I just dropped an insane bomb on him minutes before he had to act cool and like nothing interesting had happened.
My grandmother already had a bit of a hunch because I was taking a lot more sick days off work (because the nausea/dizziness was kicking in quite soon into the pregnancy), so there was not much of a surprise when she found out, but my brother and his wife's reaction was probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
Ethan had handed them the box to open and at first, they were reluctant on opening it because they thought a prank was in their hands, but once they finally opened up the box, my sister-in-law immediately looked at my brother with a massive smile, then looked at us, then back at him. All whilst my brother had been trying to figure out what it meant (he's never seen a pregnancy test before *eye roll*) so he was focused on reading what the text meant. Once they realised what we were announcing to them, they asked us if it was true and of course, we confirmed it and there was excitement and happiness all around. Not only were they excited that they would be aunts and uncles again, but they were excited for Ethan to be a big brother!
There's not much you can do over video calls when it comes to making creative announcements, so we settled for writing up a little clear but concise message and printing it out - however, considering it was going to be shown through Facetime, we had to flip it before printing it so that it could be read on their side of the conversation.
After much squinting and trying to read what it said, my parents asked "who?!" hoping it was my older brother and his wife announcing their baby news, but instead, Ethan, Henry and I smiled and said it was us, and they congratulated us. A lot of questions were asked like how were we doing and what did the doctor say, but all in all, excitement was again around for they were going to be getting another adorable grandchild to spoil.
Now finally to the way we announced it to our extended family and close friends.
It didn't take us long to figure out that this was how we wanted to share our news because we thought creating a banner was absolutely perfect. The holidays were coming up, so we would be gathering with our family and close friends soon enough.
My fiancé will deny this at all costs, but he is extremely talented when it comes to drawing, so I wasn't worried when he became more than keen to create this banner for our big news. He did an incredible job, and I love that he included Ethan in the artwork by having him colour it in. It became such a personal piece of work for us, and I love that our baby will see it one day and see how excited we were to tell everyone about them.
We recorded the reactions of our extended family and close friends in separate videos, but for their privacy, I won't be posting the videos, so all I'll say is, till today, I still watch those videos on repeat to relive the love and joy that was expressed through them finding out our special news.
We are very lucky to have all of these amazing people in our lives to share this with.
Once everyone significantly important in our life knew our big news, it was time to let the rest of our world know. I immediately fell in love with the idea of using a chalkboard and decorating it with pictures of us, for a simple grassy snap on all of our social media accounts. I have a messy writer's hand so again, my fiancé had to do the typography, but it turned out so great, and I'm so happy with it.
It's simple, and straight to the point. Baby number two will arrive in August 2017!
We are so over the moon. Extending our family has always been a part of our plan. Finally living it through together has been incredible, and it's a journey we're all very much looking forward to.
My fiancé, son and I would like to thank everyone who has congratulated us, celebrated with us and supported us during this super exciting time in our lives. We are so grateful for every single one of you!
I'm so excited to go through this journey with you guys, and to document everything on here. From announcing it to you guys, to talking about every trimester and the symptoms that came along with it, to finally introducing you to our brand new bub; I hope you'll come along with me on this ride!
Filled with love,
Danica xo
Congratulations to you all!
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