How did all the Christmas announcements go?

ssthomps

Spill the beans. For the ladies that were going to have the first born in a “announcement shirt” did the family catch on? 

ecwk

I'm still early and haven't seen the HB yet so did not want to make a big deal. We told my immediate family that we had a present for DS but couldn't give it to him yet but that if everything went well he'd have a baby brother or sister in August. They were all thrilled but no one has mentioned it much at all since. I think baby #2 isn't as "big a deal" as #1 lol 

lalala2004

My parents were thrilled, but same as @ecwk baby #2 isn’t as exciting, apparently. Also, my mom knew we were trying, so it wasn’t a huge surprise. My brother kept forgetting and was like “Why can’t you drink beer? Oh yeah!”

We’ll tell DH’s side of the family when we get together with them in a week and a half.

proudparent2b

We did the reveal via DS wearing a t-shirt during a photo shoot (removed sweater to reveal shirt). Everyone was excited- actually took it better than when we announced our first.

We asked everyone to keep it a secret as we aren’t having the u/s until Friday. Of course, FIL didn’t respect that and announced the next day, after repeating that he wouldn’t tell. Blah!

lanieslumpia

We did reveal on both sides of the families using Christmas ornaments. A little earlier than originally preferred because my first appointment isn’t until today! But we really could not NOT share our Christmas cheer. Ornaments surprised my parents and his mother and his sisters. It was a great reaction on both sides. Praying for good health here on out now that we have spilled the beans!

meeks2020

We announced to my in-laws and they were all very excited, mil seemed on cloud 9 afterwards, but also kept forgetting why I couldn't drink wine. Bil also announced their pregnancy and fil said he wants us to have girls. Bil has a girl and  we have a boy, so it gave me a weird feeling like he only wants granddaughters? Idk how to describe it, and maybe it's just my hormones anyway. 
I also told my sister who is due in July but she just sent a message saying "Congrats" and hasn't reached out since. I didn't really expect more from her but I'm still bummed she is the way she is. 

aj1327

I had to tell people to read DS’s shirt, but everyone was so excited. DH’s step brothers wife is due in June, so that part of the family was excited that we would have two babies close together. 

scottishlass1213

My mom already knew since I found out while we were in Scotland for 2 weeks for my grandpas funeral and I couldn’t drink wine. Christmas Eve we had family over and gave DS who is 4.5 a book saying he’s going to be a big brother. My sister noticed first, then my dad. Was pretty easy!

bracanewbie

We are spending the holidays with my brother in law’s wife’s family. My family is far way in Brazil and my husband parents are not here anymore. His only family last is his brother. 

 I was planning to making ornaments with the picture of the us, but decided that it was just to early to tell. It’s going to be my nieces first cousin, so I’d hate to break their heart if anything happens. So we only told BIL and his wife. They are so excited that they put us in the biggest room of the house. We are being spoiled! It’s the first time I’m pregnant, so it feels weird to have them giving so much attention.  

ssthomps

@ecwk And @lalala2004 that sucks. 

ssthomps

@meeks2020 I have a sister like this and haven’t decided if I am even going to tell her. We aren’t close and I don’t want to deal with her negativity while I am pregnant. I doubt she will be happy for us. 

laurad75

I gave my father an adorable mug that said 'promoted to Grandpa' and he was excited but said 'I know'.  Apparently my mother gave too many clues.  I was annoyed that it wasn't a surprise but whatever.  We are waiting to tell H's family in February when we are in the safe zone.  

meeks2020

@ssthomps yeah it kinda dampers it. I'm sorry you seem to have a similar relationship with your sister

lauramariiie

It's still pretty early but it's our first and the first grandchild/greatgrandchild on both sides, so it's hard to keep a secret - not to mention we're both from families that looove our wine and so it's a hard secret to keep. 

I told my sister first since she's been TTC for years- she took it rough at first (I called her on the phone) and it wasn't a great time, but she's been better about it lately. We told my parents on Christmas eve by giving them an ornament. It took them a while to realize what the ornament said - at first they were like" oh..that's nice.." but then it sunk in. I think they were truly shocked, but that night they started discussing what they would be called so they're definitely really excited. We told my two older brothers Christmas day and one of them is slightly confused but my eldest brother is REALLY excited to be an uncle and told me he would babysit - he's 37 and single so that's really funny to think about

We're telling the husbands parents/sister tonight with the same ornament we gave my parents. I might need to have an ambulance on standby - My MIL is one who mentions having grandkids ALL the time and pressures us a lot...so she really might have a heart attack. 

lalala2004

ssthomps said:

@ecwk And @lalala2004 that sucks. 

It’s really OK. They were excited, it’s just not the same level. They are already grandparents, now. This is just a +1.

Firemanswife11

All went really well. We told both sides over Christmas Eve/Day. There were a few tears but like PPs said, it seems like 2nd baby isn't as big of a deal. Lol. Thankfully I felt well over the holidays because MS kicked in yesterday and I would have been miserable. 

Baxter2012

My mom already knew, I told her on my birthday (a week after my positive test). We wrapped our son’s shirt up and had him open it with my dad. He didn’t have much to say. 
My moms mom was ecstatic. 
My dads dad saw my son’s shirt before we even had his coat off of him. 
My husbands mom was happy but mad at us because she found out at the same time all of her siblings and Mom did. We told her with our son and asked her not to tell anyone, that night I received a Facebook message from her one sister saying congrats, so this time my husband and I agreed she would find out with everyone else since she can’t be trusted. 

hardlyhannah

My family was super excited, we’re telling DHs Family on Friday. We just told the adults though because I think my niece would be crushed if something were to happen and I don’t want to put her through that. 

ecwk

ssthomps said:

@ecwk And @lalala2004 that sucks. 

????


eta oh I got you. No, nothing sucks tbh. They're very happy and excited, it's just a different experience to the first time around! 

pghctwife

We didn’t do a Christmas announcement, but on the subject... when I was pregnant last fall we never told my ils bc we were worried they’d have an actively BAD reaction (judging for 4 kids). Our 2nd has a pretty nothing response - not bad just ho hum. Third was similar on my side - happy but not giddy. And ils were kinda crappy. 

Now that we’ve had losses (and our ils know this), plus there was a lot of fallout from my sil death this fall (she was not a nice person and made a bad relationship with dh and his parents worse) there was some big grievances aired... and mil is at least acting like she cares. If nothing else she’ll be more likely to act happy for us now.

and my mom cried when I told her - happy tears. I guess everything I’ve been through makes number 4 a bit more exciting.

lalala2004

ecwk said:

ssthomps said:

@ecwk And @lalala2004 that sucks. 

????


eta oh I got you. No, nothing sucks tbh. They're very happy and excited, it's just a different experience to the first time around! 

That the fam wasn’t as excited about baby #2. I think that’s par for the course, though. As excited as I am about another baby, it’s rarely going to be the same level of excitement as your first.

laufisch

So I didn't post on the first thread but we did end up announcing over Xmas. We had to prompt people to read the shirt in both cases.
Even though this is our second everyone was super excited. I think part of that was surprise as well because of how young DS still is (He's 11 month now). But my family is kinda baby crazy. 
It's honestly kind of weird because I feel like everyone is more excited than I am. Not that I'm not happy about the baby but I haven't had the first US yet and don't really want to get excited until I hear that heartbeat.

LCartee2016

So we did announce to each family group at their respective Christmas gatherings. For the most part everyone was excited and happy, but apparently my mil is pretending this pregnancy isn't real. She was pissy because we knew a few weeks before we told her  but whatever. I agree with all the pp's who say the second isn't as exciting as the first. I think everyone is nervous to be excited because of my previous losses, but they were very obviously happy for me and H, so that's nice.

Except for mil of course. H is still pissed because of how she acted that whole day.

msmonalisavito

I posted in the randoms but ours went well.  Although this is #3, so the reaction wasn't as big.  Especially since DH's cousin announced they are expecting their 1st.

But I'm cool with it.  

melprop

We told DS on Christmas Eve by giving him the Yoda big brother shirt. He is so excited, but he hopes it’s a boy because “little sisters are pains in the butt” according to his friends at school. He wore the shirt on Christmas Day. My mom picked up right away, but we had to tell my aunt, uncle, cousins to read the shirt. My fave reaction was from my 14yo cousin: “Wait, you’re really pg? It’s not a joke?”

Then we went home & told DH’s sister over FaceTime. She’s excited. Then the rest of DH’s family came here for dinner. DS told them all to read his shirt, and their reaction was basically, “oh, that’s nice. When will dinner be ready?” But they generally suck, so I wasn’t expecting much from them. 

izmom28

We announced casually over Christmas. We don’t want my DD to know yet, so I quickly told them when she was out of the room. Everyone was shocked, but excited. 

alinafed

It went so well! We had 3 Christmases with our three families in 3 days, so three big announcements back to back! It was so funny passing around the Santa picture - my kids on Santa's lap with a sign that said "Santa is bringing us a baby sibling in August 2018." Most people noticed my crying DS2's face first, then, because our parents etc are a bit older none were wearing their glasses, so it was fun to see everyone like "what does it say?" and then either pass it along or get their glasses. Someone would always read it out loud and then it was so much fun to see everyone's faces around the table as they all realized (we made sure to do it when everyone was together each time). This is our fourth pregnancy announcement with our families (1st one ended in a loss) and I couldn't have picked a better way to do it for our last baby, it went so great and people were really surprised!

kcdo1010

I finally told my H Christmas Eve morning- he teared up, which of course made me cry.

kayldawn

We wrapped up a onesie that said “Big Sister August 2018” and had the present addressed to DD, Grandma and Grandpa. We did it at my in-laws on Christmas eve and my parents on Christmas. Both reactions were priceless- I got videos of both sets of family opening the gift with my little one, and it was perfect! They could not have been more surprised and excited- it was awesome!!! 

vinerie

I did the shirt thing and had DS show my parents his new shirt over FaceTime. Watching their faces at the moment they realized what the shirt meant was priceless. My mom teared up and my dad's jaw just about dropped on the floor. It is a moment I'll treasure forever. On my side, this is 99.99% likely the last, so I think that was partly the reason for the emotions. Also, all the grandkids are all boys, and although no one is saying it, I think there is some excitement about finally getting a girl.

Dh's side was ho-hum, which is par for the course. They don't emote, but whatevs. My sisters and parents were/are all super excited, which was fun!

matryoshkadoll

These are all so adorable! Hats off to everyone who put care into telling their loved ones. We didn't tell anyone but our best friends, and we didn't do anything creative haha. I'm so awkward, I hate announcing pregnancies lol. 

hannerbananers

OMG haha you guys, we told our families at separate events and I actually told my Dad in his christmas card. So at the end of the card I wrote something like "for christmas we got you a special gift, and for 2018 you're going to be a grandpa"
So anyways, apparently after 3 glasses of wine, and not having his reading glasses, I had to literally SPELL the word grandpa too him, my brother got it on camera which was funny. Not what we planned but honestly it made it even more memorable.

ble1

These announcements are so cute. We had a present box that used alphabet blocks from ds to spell out August 2018 with a hand drawn pregnancy test. We only told our parents. We are gonna wait to tell siblings after the first ultrasound looks good

juliebird6

We told my immediate family at a paint & sip on 12/15. It was so early to tell but they would have known immediately if I wasn't drinking at an event like that.  It was anticlimactic.  Everyone was excited, but it was my first time doing a paint & sip and I didn't realize it was going to be so heavy on the "instruction." I took off my sweater and then my mom noticed my shirt but we didn't get a chance to even talk about it for a while because the instructor was doing her thing.  And also, I didn't realize that my cousin's SIL worked there, so she totally saw my shirt and NA drink, which was a bummer.  I was trying to keep the news within just our small circle, but it wasn't meant to be.  I wish it had gone differently, but oh well.  We told DH's immediate family the next day at our family Christmas.  They were excited too, but seems like the excitement died down pretty quickly.  

And of course, one of my brothers spilled the beans to a couple aunts and uncles at a family game night later that same weekend.  Oh well.  

ssthomps

Enjoyed reading you ladies announcements. It gave me some ideas for when we decide to announce. We told my mom and sister and two of my close friends (right when I found out) but that’s it. We are waiting to tell dh family. It wasn’t the best experience telling them with my first, so I am not to motivated to tell them this go around. I am definitely dragging my feet with when to tell them. 

kburg15

I also loved reading everyone’s announcements! We’re holding off for awhile, but these are all so sweet!

citymommar

Announcement went well except for big sister sounding not too thrilled because we have a 6.5 month old.... it made me feel uncomfortable when instead of congratulating us, she said that's scary. Keeping in mind that I'm 39, husband makes good money and we're happy to be pregnant.

izmom28

We told our DD (age 3) today. We were waiting until after she came to my office kids party. She is excited but ONLY for a sister. 

pintobean77

My parents unwrapped this Christmas morning. My mom absolutely lost it. 

pintobean77

The kids opened a onesie the night before that said, “the snuggle is real.” Our 3 year old walked around the house saying that for days. It was adorable.

lauramariiie

My MIL literally had to sit down because she started crying to hard. They also all ignored my husband and came straight to me to hug me so I felt a little bad for him - but they meant well. 

I'm happy she's happy - but I'm not a very emotional person so their response was wayyyyyyyyyyy too much for me - ha! But they are very happy about being grandparents and I know it's a good thing. Buuuuut the comments about what I'm eating/how my MIL felt during her pregnancy and how she expects it to be the exact same for me/what THEY want to do to the nursery are a bit much for me and so I'm going to have to exercise a LOT of patience over through August and beyond