It's all fun & games, 'till someone pees their pants.

The best part, by far (and so far, since it's radio silence from within at this point) has been telling people who have no idea and watching their reactions. Totally awesome. And we must be good with the surprises because as far as I know, we caught everyone off-guard.

My goal was to make someone pee their pants (just kidding I would never want that). But it did kind of feel like covert ops coming up with some stealthy way to slip it into a conversation or a "mock-fight" that would end with the big reveal. Of course, Jon was busting at the seams to tell someone, so we didn't quite make it to the end of the first trimester with the parents (or Heidi. or Nick).

Heidi literally fell to the floor; Nick actually did a happy dance; Loryn got sick and left (just kidding Loryn I know that was not due to the announcement); my dad broke down in the middle of a restaurant (I felt really bad about that one actually, but it was sweet to see how touched and excited he was); my mom just repeated "oh my gosh!" - sounding strangely reminiscent of me after Jon's proposal; Jon's mom hugged me and forgot to hug him; and my brother shook my hand. Those are just the highlights. They may not be overjoyed with me for doing so, but I'm going to post the ones we recorded below. I am so glad we have these!

How we broke it down. 

My dad: Finally shocked with a little help from the help at Tex & Shirley's. 

Apparently, "Grandpa T" had been waiting for this news for about 2 years. He'd actually gotten a card and kept it in his car for the day we might hit him with it because, in his mind, anytime we invited him over for dinner or to hang out, we were about to make "the big announcement." But when Hannahbelle arrived in November, he figured there was no way we'd want to expand the family further after just adopting our furry new baby. So we invited he and my grandmother out to breakfast and when it came time to go, Jon took the waitress aside and asked her to play along. She dropped off the check in front of my dad and said "I was told to give this to the new grandfather, since these kids are gonna need to save their money." And my dad picks up the tab totally nonchalantly and is like ok sure I got it. Of course Jon and I are staring at him like 'dad - come on - that wasn't obvious?' So the waitress, trying to be helpful, repeats her "line" again and my dad responds "Oh they don't have kids yet."  At that point, I had to step in. So I said "Seriously dad - we're trying to tell you something here." He was so stunned, I think there was a bit of an emotional overload and the tears started flowing. My poor dad. Probably not the smartest place for us to have done that. I think we could've used a little privacy. But they were tears of joy, so the mission was a success. After 2 years, however, he did have a little trouble locating that card. 

My mom: Opening "the Christmas present we forgot to give her on Christmas" 

[actually a record book from grandma to baby]

Jon's parents: We used the "forgotten present" trick on them, too.
 

Jenna: Slipped it into the conversation (twice) until she noticed. 

We wanted to tell the siblings asap after the parents, but logistics didn't quite work out. So when we ended up at Ham's for a family dinner, Jon nudged me and said "Let's tell Jenna now!" Our first casual mention went unnoticed, so we tried again when Jon pushed his broccoli in my direction and firmly stated "You need this. Eat it." Recognizing the setup, I went with "Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I have to eat everything green in the neighboring vicinity." But Jenna completely blew it off and was like whatever you're not pregnant. And since Jon had recently tried to deflect on numerous occasions by asserting that Jenna was just as likely to be with child as the two of us (evil brother), we had to lay it out there in more blatant terms before she actually believed it. Of course, when it registered that we were for real, she squealed just as we'd hoped.

Bronson: Totally unphased, even after the pictures. 

I had borrowed a CD from B some time ago, and I think it was Jon's idea to put the first ultrasound pics inside and give it back to him one morning at breakfast. We tried to act normal and wait out a good part of the meal because someone we knew was at a neighboring table and we weren't quite ready to take the news public, but after we ate, I slid the CD case back to Brons; sure that he would open it and inspect the contents. True to form, he cracked the cover as soon as it was in hand and we paused for a response. Before I could even say "Do you know what those pictures are?" he goes "You're pregnant?" - and honestly I think it was more of a statement than a question. He said it so calmly! Then he reached across the table to shake my hand in congratulations. Classic.

Heidi: Blindsided by a "random" discussion/argument wherein Jon tried to assert that he was the better gift giver (ever-loyal Heidi unfailingly backed me up). 

We went back and forth with the "I got you this; I got you that" until Jon cut to the chase with "Oh yeah well what did I get you this year?" which was my prompt to respond "Pregnant." It took her a second (there may or may not have been alcohol inolved), but then she screamed "WHAT???" and had to grip the countertop to keep from falling to the floor too hard (so great was the shock). No suspicions whatsoever. It was magnificent. Though in hindsight it may have been better (at least for Heidi's health) to let the toastiness wear off before dropping that little bomb.

Nick: Caught off-guard in a Guitar Hero battle. 

Unfortunately Jon's newfound skills were no match for the seasoned veteran, and Nick was in the midst of a beatdown when Jon tried to even the playing field by throwing out "Hey, dude... Mckenzie's pregnant." Sadly, this did not stop the battle, but Nick kept glancing back and forth trying to determine if that was just a distraction tactic or if we were actually trying to tell him something. I refused to confirm until after the slaughter. But we definitely should have broken out the camera for that one because Nick's happy-dance-with-tiny-videogame-guitar was priceless.

The friends: Surprise by spaghetti. 

Just before the 3-month milestone, we managed to get a large group of friends to our house under the guise of dinner and hangage (I mean we actually did have dinner and hang, but there were ulterior motives). Though nothing like that can ever go perfectly and we were missing a few key peeps, we figured it was the most we could get together at one time. Jenna and Nick came early to help set up while I nervously waited for the big moment and gagged at the hideous stench of the meat/garlic mixture on the stove. When we were finally ready to eat, we gathered together in the living room for a quick prayer. Jon led us with the usual "Thank you for bringing us together and for the food we are about to eat. Bless those less fortunate" and then added "And please watch over the tiny baby in Mckenzie's belly for the next 6 months and beyond..." I believe he continued for another 15 seconds, so I can only imagine the peeks coming our direction before he was done. And when the prayer was finished, I felt about 12 sets of eyes staring expectantly, so I affirmed the news with "Yes, I'm pregnant!" I really wish I'd had a picture of that moment and been able to see everyone's reactions at once, but the two faces I noticed were Jennifer and Loryn. The mixture of shock and excitement was awesomeriffic.