The Big Reveal

Michael’s Family:
First, we ran into a bit of a snafu getting my younger sister-in-law home from college for the weekend. We were in a panic because we really wanted her to be there, in person, when we told the whole family. Her original ride home fell through, so we were left trying to figure out an alternative. Cristina really didn’t want to inconvenience anybody, so she was refusing all of our ideas. Although we thought for SURE she would think something was up, we ended up insisting that we’d come to get her to bring her home for the weekend. We drove the hour there and the hour back just so she’d be there for our big announcement. Luckily, she didn’t really think anything of it.

I told my mother-in-law that I had made her favorite banana cake. I’ve made it for them numerous times before, so it didn’t seem unusual to them that I would bring a cake for no special reason. My stomach was in knots and my heart was racing as my mother-in-law began cutting into the cake.

The first time she pulled the knife out, I immediately saw pink crumbs. I wondered if she’d even cut a whole piece before she figured out that something was up. Sure enough, she noticed–she said, “Wait. You’ve never made it like this before. Why is it pink?” I tried to write it off, casually saying, “Oh, I just decided to add some food coloring this time, for fun.” She continued to cut the cake, and finally pulled the first slice out onto a plate. At this point, she saw the blue. My mother-in-law seemed confused, but did not get it.

Thankfully, my sister-in-law was paying attention as well, and she immediately blurted out, “WAIT A MINUTE. IS THAT SUPPOSED TO SYMBOLIZE SOMETHING?!?” Michael and I kind of just looked at her, smiling, and Melissa started screaming “Are you serious??” and everyone else caught on, and more screaming ensued. It was hilarious.

My Family:
The next day, I brought the second banana cake to my mom’s for my family. This time, I was in charge of cutting the cake. Again, I was totally anxious, practically shaking as I cut into the cake. I plopped a piece of cake onto a plate and handed it to my sister-in-law, Kara. There were comments like, “Ooh, pretty colors.” And I said, “Yeah, I used food coloring.”

I handed out a second piece, this time to my mom. No one was saying anything. Inside, I was dying. After Melissa had figured it out so quickly the day before, I was thinking for sure someone would know from my family, too. Finally, as my mom was about to dig in, she said, “What’s the significance of the pink and blue?” I just looked at her. Still, NOTHING. I gave Kara a look. Nothing from her, either.

I stood there in awkward silence, and suddenly, my brother goes “You’re pregnant. She’s pregnant!” I wouldn’t have expected one of my brothers to be the first person to figure it out, but was so thankful that he did! The rest of my family was messing up our plans! :) My family was really excited, too. I joked with them that they’re all pretty slow on the uptake since they were so clueless at first.

It was a really fun experience to be able to tell both of our families, and I think they all appreciated the creativity behind the reveal. Now that we are “out” to the whole world, some of them are sharing the story with others, too. It’s cute.

We made the announcement to our families when I was only 5 weeks pregnant. Now? 14 weeks pregnant… tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…