My "secret" flaw

Okay, I have a confession to make.  I am not good with secrets.  I really don't think I ever have been, especially when it is something exciting like a surprise!  My family can vouch for this one specifically when it comes to birthday presents.  I spend so much time finding the perfect gift that I just want to see the satisfaction on the person's face immediately!  Poor Bud has yet to open a present from me on his birthday.  Oh well, I guess everyone has to have character flaws, right?!?

So, this is why when we found out we were pregnant we didn't wait very long to tell everyone.  In fact, we told our families when we were only 6 weeks along.....yeah, pretty early.  Now, you have to understand that we had known since we were only 3 weeks along (which is also, pretty early), so it felt like we were waiting FOREVER to tell them.

I thought I would share the story of how we told them, since it was kind of creative, and I always love to hear other peoples' stories.  Oddly enough, that 6 week timetable (which we were impatiently waiting for) happened to fall on the weekend of Valentine's Day, which was also the weekend that my brother was swimming in the State swim meet.  I thought it would be a perfect chance to get everyone in one place and tell them together.  What I didn't think through all the way was how to get my brothers to want to spend Valentine's Day with their family instead of their significant other.......that was difficult (especially with Joel, which is why he ended up finding out before anyone else).  Woops.  Another example of my poor secret keeping!

Anyways, we finally got everyone around the dining room table together and gave them these special Valentine's that I had made myself:

We had them all open them at the same time, and this is what the inside said:

In case it is difficult to read the poem from the picture, the inside was addressed to either "Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, or Uncle", and the poem was a cheesy announcement written from the perspective of baby baum.  It was welcomed by various responses such as: my mom jumping up to hug me with tears in her eyes, or my youngest brother, Josiah, age 13, saying "Why does this call me uncle?"  Everyone was thrilled, and then sworn to secrecy until we did the same routine at lunch the following day with my in-laws.

I am really glad that we chose to share our news early because my family has been an incredible support to us throughout our pregnancy so far.  I really appreciate being asked about how baby baum is doing, and equally love sharing.  As for everyone else who waits a lot longer to share - I am very confused about how you manage to hide the sickness and the tiredness from everyone around you.  Props to those who can keep secrets better than me.....I am a little bit jealous!  :)

So on to another big secret.  We are planning to find out what gender our baby is going to be at our ultasound which is scheduled for May 7th.  I have heard lots of people say that they would rather be surprised and just not know; but I am NOT one of those people.  In fact, waiting this long to find out has been kind of driving me nuts!  I don't have an opinion either way, I just want to be able to start planning and buy the right color clothes!  Since I am the oldest, I think I have always imagined that my first would be a girl like me, but after being a nanny for a little boy these past couple of years, I have decided that dirt and trucks can be cute in a way that pink and bows will never be. :)  I will share this secret with you all as soon as we know! ;)

Since this is a day of secrets, I might as well just go all out and share the names that we are thinking most strongly about right now.  We had narrowed our list down to our top five girls names and our top five boys before we even got pregnant.  But we have specifically been able to stay solid on our top girl and boy name for the past few months, so I guess I will share them with you.  I would love some input since there are always things that you might not have thought of (like silly nicknames, funny initials, etc.), but please be nice in your comments as these might be the names we stick with. :)

Layla Jayne

Hendrix James

Okay, well I think I have made enough confessions for one day.  Have a good one!