Secrets are fun!

I'm a bad liar and therefore not the best at keeping secrets. I find it especially hard to lie to someone in person. On the phone, however, it's a little easier and this is why when I found out I was pregnant just 4 days after my longest and dearest friend moved away, I thought I might have a little fun with this. I did keep it a secret from most at first (including my hubby), but on my own time I gradually spilled the beans to everyone on my own terms. There was no FB announcement until my 20 week ultrasound we when found out the gender and then I tried to make sure everyone in her family wouldn't see it. I also would immediately delete anyone's comment's on my wall about the pregnancy. With Beckie, I remember talking to her on the phone and I was about to tell her but our conversation ended before I had a chance and I began to wonder how long I could keep it from her. I figured I would have to tell her at some point but then she started talking about coming out during the summer and I was due July 17th! She had a hard time deciding when to come out but either way I thought it would be fun if I greeted her big fat and prego or with a new baby, so either way was good. I eventually let her sister, Annie, in on my little secret and she became my partner in crime. She planned a baby shower for me and we considered trying to have it when Beckie came out but that didn't work out. Beckie and Annie's other sister was having a dance show and asked Beckie to come. Her show was on July 17th! So Beckie finally decided to come on the 17th and stay for 3 weeks. I still didn't know whether or not I would greet her prego or with baby in tow but at the Dr.'s appointment 2 days before my due date we decided to induce. I really wanted to go into labor on my own with this last one as all others were induced, but at that Dr.'s appointment it was obvious that she was not coming soon and that I would more than likely be induced when I went a week past my due date. My doc gave us the option to induce on the 17th as she was on call and, mainly because of some other things that were going on at the time, we agreed. I started talking with Annie about how we could coordinate. Their sister's show was in the evening and she was suppose to bring Beckie by after. I figured I'd have the baby quickly as she was my fourth, but I didn't. I kept in contact with Annie all day so she knew that it was taking awhile. Unfortunately, I missed Annie's call when they were done with the show that evening as I was getting my epidural and by the time I called back she had dropped off Beckie. Annie at least came by and kept us company and shortly after she left Charli was born. The next day Annie and her older sister kidnapped Beckie and brought her to the hospital.
You can read about it in Annie's Blog:
Beckie's Surprise
Unfortunately I have no pictures from her visit. I'm always the one to take pictures and I was either too high on pain killers, caught up in the moment, or both and didn't think to ask someone to take a picture :-( I should have planned better. But I thought it might be fun to share some pics of Beckie and I through the years ;-)

I had a lot of fun with this last pregnancy by surprising people. I finally told my husband in a cool way as we had found out together with our other two. I totally surprised him at a dinner I arranged that he thought was to celebrate a business achievement. He thought I was being nice when I offered to be DD ;-)  I had the restaurant print "Congratulations" on the top of the menu and when he noticed that, I gave him a present I had brought. It was a musical giraffe. Giraffes have been a common theme among our babies. My girls still sleep with their giraffes. He had no clue what it was. He thought the hard musical part inside the giraffe housed what he really wanted, a watch. So after watching him try to take the giraffe apart I asked him to "think about it". It was priceless. Just as his eyes became wide and it was dawning on him, the waiter came over. He sat there dumbstruck and the waiter figured out that he should come back. Once he could talk his words to me were, and I quote "so that's why you were such a b**** last week!" Now that's what I call love! He was excited though. That boy gets baby fever more than me. We just weren't expecting it (totally thought we were done) and definitely not trying, so he was caught completely off guard.

Then on the day we got home from the hospital (which happened to be our 8 year anniversary) I got a text from my friend Trish, wishing us a happy anniversary (she set Chris and I up on a blind date and that was that). I'd been talking to her through out my pregnancy but I hadn't told her either. We were suppose to get together the month before and I was going to surprise her with my huge self but her kids got sick so we postponed. So in response to her text I sent her a pic of Avery holding her new baby sis.
She was shocked and had so many questions.


Here are some old school pics of Trish and Beckie at my 21st bday and my wedding. What awesome friends I have:

Anyways, I had a lot of fun being sneaky with my unexpected surprise. It's not everyday that you get happy news, and for me it was a lot of fun keeping the secret and figuring out creative ways to share it.