Feb 21st –
Well, we told the remaining family members here in Sask. about the happenings 🤪
We had everyone over for oliebollen since it was Saturday and a nice warm day out for deep frying.
I set the kiddos up to ‘picnic’ downstairs since we didn’t want them to find out the news just yet, incase their secret keepings skills weren’t developed strongly enough to stay silent for a little while 🙈
Once everyone’s plates were filled and they settled into eating in the living room, it was time to open the curtains to a new subject in our lives.
Truly… we had the blinds drawn and the ultrasound photo taped on the window with a note that said, ‘eat up, Jess can’t be the only fat one this summer!’.
So finally (like 2 minutes into us all being in the right spots) I asked Mike to lift the blind 😜
Pro (the sister) was the first to see and then maybe (my bro) Nathin. Becca (my sister in law) was immediately excited/jealous and the bro in law (Josh) took more than a few moments to read and understand the meaning 😂
Mom and Dad sat, as cool as cucumbers during this all, since they already knew 😎
As it wasn’t really a SUPER expected nor SUPER unexpected announcement and we aren’t the type to be overly exuberant about such announcements, it was all accepted pretty relaxed and with calm pleasure 🤪
March 2nd –
The day the Hubster sent the photo that he would at a later date post on Instagram, to the Hagenouw family chat 🤓
It had to be sent during the correct time here, so that the family there would all be awake in order to get the news at the right time.
Because awaiting a response after a message like that, would be pretty painful 🙈
Hearts and smilies and congratulatory messages were sent to us quickly and that was that. Most of the family now knew!
The different sets of grandparents where called to let them know over the phone ☺️
Oma immediately told Mike congratulations, that she has a gift for the baby and that she wanted to talk to me but he called her while she was at work.
She then asked if he knew what the gift was and he responded no, so she said she wouldn’t tell him 😛
She did though and his favourite childhood book will make for the perfect Dutch baby book for him to entertain our offspring with 😉
March 17 –
We decided it was time to tell Alaina and Brynlee about the baby, since they wouldn’t be seeing anyone for sometime, due to the beginning of social distancing/quarantines etc.
So after dinner, when they were hanging out with Uncle Mike (as is their usual activity it he’s around) we turned the video on and brought up the topic.
We expected their reactions to be entreating and slightly opposite, as Brynlee hadn’t been overly fond of the ‘baby’ subject when we’d work it into conversations and Alaina would pretty much start drooling 🤪
Alaina didn’t believe that we were being serious AT ALL, until given many reassurances.
She really just thought we were talking about how wonderful it WOULD be, since she’s been talking about someone in the family having a kid for at least 6 months to a year, as she absolutely loves them.
Part 1-
Part 2 –
Part 3 –
Brynlee just said we couldn’t have a baby, cause we didn’t have toys, ‘her not fat’ and ‘them gross cause them have poop on them’ (‘Her’ and ‘them’, being ‘me’ and ‘the baby’) 🤪
When they finally believed, Brynlee become very clingy to Mike and after telling her the baby wouldn’t come until summer was over, she stated that, ‘she hoped summer was not for a long time’.🤪
Alaina just kept creepily staring at me as though she was in love and after a few minutes, asked us seriously, ‘well are you going to homeschool or send your kid to school?’.
I laughed and said that was the most serious question we’d gotten yet but before she could say more on the subject, she suddenly started to get teary eyed.
Pro was like, ‘are you going to cry??’ to which she responded ‘No!’ While grinning and shaking her head and then immediately changing her answer to ‘YES!’ While her face crumpled and she dissolved into tears and then ran upstairs, embarrassed because Pro and I started laughing at her 😂😬
It couldn’t be helped ok?? 🙈
When she came back downstairs, she and Brynlee positioned themselves beside and on me on the couch in order to discuss the newcomer 😉
Between March 17th/March 20th –
Mike called to FaceTime the nieces and nephews in Europe to tell them the news during his morning drive to work.
He told them he had a surprise and the oldest guessed that it would be about us having a baby but also it wouldn’t be, because Jessica doesn’t like or want kids so like, what? supposedly said as only a smart, mature, 11 year old could 😉
The others I believe, accepted the news as children generally take this type of announcement 🤓
Not that I really know how ‘that’ is, as it’s the first time we’ve ever had such a thing to tell 🤪
March 20th –
We didn’t get a chance before this, to tell the remaining nieces and nephew here, so when we finally did, we let Alaina break the news.
We know their parents (my bro and sister in law) are not overly expressive folks, so in all honesty we didn’t video because we expected pretty average responses 😂🙈
Which are exactly what we got 🤪
Emily, the oldest, just sort of smiled and was like, ‘she is?’.
Spencer just looked at me with kind of creeped out eyes and a smile and stuffed his face with chips and the littlest was sleepy soo the reaction was non existent 🤓
Aliana was disappointed, as she had been bursting at the seams, waiting for them to know 😜
She instead got her thrills when she called to tell her other cousin in the States the news. A fellow lover of babies, she was very excited and wishes to visit me once the baby arrives… just what I’ve always dreamed of, a baby AND two little kids hanging out with me 🤪
March 20th –
Instagram knows.
Thus, worldwide, people now know 🤪
Originally I’d just wanted to go to Hawaii (I’d have been arriving back home today) on my girls trip/babymoon with the mom and sister and then when I would get back, we’d make the announcement to everyone.
As it turned out, God/the world, had other plans 😬
Our trip was canceled, sadness ensued and by then we were pretty much already social distancing/self isolating (yes, MORE than normal 🤪).
Church had been canceled due to the limit on group gatherings and the overall lifestyle was beginning to change a bit, so it’s not as though anyone was feeling overly cheerful.
So, we figured WHY NOT tell and perhaps bring an unexpected smile to some folks 😉
I realize that to some, it may seem strange that we waited as long as we did to let people in on this, but that was because of me. As this is a pretty life changing occurrence, I needed as much time as possible to get used to the idea myself, pre ‘peopling’ 😉
Jemstory 