telling family

On Sunday, February 7th, we managed to tell every member of our immediate family that we were pregnant. I was one day shy of being 6 weeks pregnant, and it took ALL of my self-control to wait a week and a half to tell them haha. Luckily, Russ didn't make me wait too long--waiting until I was 6 weeks along was reasonable :)

We started out with Russ's mom. We had a busy day, filled with church and meetings, so we had to fit everyone in when we could. That meant we called Mom at the ripe old hour of 8:15am. She says that we didn't wake her up, but I think she was just being nice :) We talked for a few minutes about life and her week. She said her week was a little disappointing because she didn't make it on a flight to spend a day with Dad in California. Russ told her maybe we could make her week a little better -- "Ashley's pregnant!" Mom's reaction was so sweet. She was quiet on the other end for a moment, and seemed just so happy and a little emotional. She said she'd have to change her fast for the day to a fast of gratitude :) (A few months ago we asked everyone in our family to participate in a family fast for us to get pregnant. I'm not sure about this, but it's possible she'd been fasting for that same thing each month since.) Later on in the day, she texted us saying, "I just can't stop smiling at your news!"

As soon as we told Mom, she told us we better hang up and call Dad H right away because he'd be so excited :) So we called and talked about how Dad's flights this week had been and what he'd done in his off time in California. After a bit, he asked us if we had anything exciting coming up. Russ replied, "Well we scheduled an ultrasound with Uncle Rick." *long pause* (Because an ultrasound could also mean that we were going in for a fertility test for me.) "Because I'm pregnant!" I said :) And then Dad was all "What! Are you serious?! Sa-weet!" It was so fun :) The next day he also sent us a text that said, "I have some great news. You're pregnant! I'm so excited, I just had to tell someone. Congratulations!" I thought it was so cute :) Oh! Also of note, the FIRST thing that both Mom & Dad H said after we said our due date was, "Oh, another October birthday would be good -- Grandpa H is the only one with a birthday in October." They must be married or something ;)

Next we drove up to Orem to my parents' house. I told Russ that I really wanted to tell all Utah family in person, so he agreed. When we got to my parents' house, my mom was really confused as to why we were there. We never come on Sundays unless it's for dinner, so it was weird for us to be there in the morning. I made excuses about bringing some things to their house (because I did bring some things, like receipts to shred, a thank you note, and some other miscellaneous items to return). Russ and I spent a few minutes helping Mom out with computer stuff, and then I said, "Let's go talk in the family room!" My dad was sleeping on the floor, so my mom said we should talk in the office, but I said nahhh. Haha. Russ and I went in before my mom, and Russ said I should just tell my mom and her scream would wake my dad. I wasn't sure she would scream though, so I said no. We (me, Russ, Mom) then talked for a few minutes about the fun party they (Mom & Dad) had hosted for friends the night before, and I kept saying things loudly to try to wake my dad up. At one point he said, "Gosh, a guy can't even get 5 minutes of rest before he heads off to meetings!" To which I replied, "Well, I thought you might want to wake up to hear that I'm pregnant." Cue a screaming mom and a jolted-awake dad. Haha it was so funny :) There was hugging and smiling and they were both very excited for us :) Turns out Russ knows my mom better than I do! ;)

Next we headed to Brandon and Amy's house. After coming in, I helped Haddie get dressed while Max got a whole bunch of lotion on his head. Haha there was a bit of chaos! :) But when things finally settled down and we were all chatting, I said to Amy, "So Max is about 15 months now . . . It's time for you to get pregnant if you want to keep up with the 2-year-apart trend! How about a little brother or sister?" To which Amy said, "Oh, no. Not just yet!" So then I said, "Well then how about a cousin?" . . . I was hoping she would catch on, but I've been saying things like that for over a year now, so to her it probably just seemed hopeful. When she just responded, "Yeah, that sounds good :)" I realized I would have to say more, so I added, "Well then it's a good thing we're going to do that :)" Then there was the, "Wait, what?! You're pregnant?! Ahh!" Haha it was great :) The next day at a celebratory family dinner, I asked Hadley if she thought I was going to have a girl baby or a boy baby -- she predicts girl haha :)

After church we had to quickly call a few people because some of Russ's siblings were coming for dinner in just an hour and a half! We called Brooke and Ryan first. Again, we started out chatting about normal life; they had gone on a fancy formal date the night before so we asked them about that. When a few of their girls finally came to join in on the Skype call, I asked them if they were excited to come to Utah for Thanksgiving again this year, which, of course they answered "yes!" to. Then I asked them if they were excited to see their cousins, and which cousins they were most excited to see. As they thought about it for a second, I said, "Maybe . . . Baby Holmes?" Cue 4 screaming girls, with the adult girl waving her hands in the air! Haha Brooke is definitely my mother's daughter ;) They screamed for a solid minute or two before finally settling down and talking more specifics like due date and such. That one was really fun :)

Next we talked to Shayne and Stephanie. Stephanie (at the time) had a baby of her own coming in just a few short weeks, so we talked about how she's been feeling and what else is new in their family. We chatted with our nieces Susan and Molly, and they looked so much more grown up than the last time I saw them! Craziness. Stephanie's baby is due March 2nd, but she always comes early. She mentioned how they might have a leap year baby, to which I responded, "That would be so cool! I want to have a leap year baby someday! :)" Since we still hadn't said we were pregnant, Stephanie empathetically told us that our time would come and they knew what waiting was like. Soon after, Russ said that Small Fry (unborn baby boy's nickname) and the girls would have another cousin soon! Shayne and Steph said congratulations and then asked about stuff like how far along I was and if I'd been feeling morning sickness. Steph also said she had a bunch of books to recommend to me, which I can't wait to read! :)

Oh, Rachel and Michael. Those ruiners. Haha :) I had Russ dial them while I walked into the kitchen to switch on the rice and turn the crock pot to warm. That's it. As in, about 30 seconds or less of work. But what should happen in those 30 seconds except for the first question out of Jackson's (4) mouth to be, "Do you guys have a baby yet?" Russ looked at me (over in the kitchen) because he didn't know what to say, before saying "Not yet!" Because truly, we don't have a baby yet, because it's still in my tummy! But then Jackson proceeded to ask, "When are you guys going to have a baby?" So I say, "Geez, could you guys at least wait until I'm in the screen?!?" as I rushed over to be on screen. So then there's pandemonium as everyone realizes that we are, indeed, pregnant this time haha :) Then Rachel said she was sorry, but Jackson really wanted to ask that because they've been praying about it for a long time and so it's just been on their minds, and Jackson said he wanted to ask so they said he could. (Because my family is super open like that, and I have no problems with questions like that, except when they ruin my plans of how to tell! Haha :) ) So then I told them how I had something specific I had wanted to say to announce, so they told me to pretend they didn't know and to do it anyway haha :) So I said, "Hey Jackson, what have you been praying for lately?" And he said, "That you could have a baby," and then I said, "Well guess what? Heavenly Father answers prayers because we're going to have a baby!!" And then everyone broke into happiness and smiles again :) Michael said he was glad we still did our original idea of announcing to them :)

Next Lance, Mackenzi, Zander, and Lacey all came over for dinner. We got through a whole hour or two -- all of dinner and some chatting afterward -- before we even told them! I had told Russ that he was in charge of telling his family and I was in charge of telling mine, so I was basically just waiting for him to bring it up. After it had been forever and he still hadn't told them, I kind of nudged him because I was ready for it to be out there already!! So we were all kinda watching Zander run around and play and Russ said, "Well we're excited for Zander to have a little cousin :)" After which there was some chatter about how Mackenzi had wondered if we were pregnant when we invited them for dinner, and how I had been pregnant when I saw Lacey the week before at a cousin's baby shower and how that affected our interactions, and some more stuff about Zander having a cousin :)

Chantry was definitely not awake when we called Mom H at 8:15am (girl loves her sleep!), so we called her later in the evening. Again we chatted about normal things like her week and her work before Russ brought up that I was pregnant :) She said a few times that she was "soo happy" for us :) She and Russ have this unique bond, so it just felt really sweet and heartfelt when she said it :)

We had tried calling Tyler and Anya after church but before dinner -- Tyler didn't pick up, and Anya did but she was heading out the door to deliver bread to someone. I tried to convince her to go back in and Skype with us right then, but it's hard to convince someone to do that when they don't know you have very exciting news, and you don't want to give that away in the process of convincing them. So we didn't end up being able to Skype with their whole family, but we Skyped with just the two of them after our company left. We chatted for a bit about life, and I asked about their summer trip to Utah. Anya told us that she thinks we should do some hiking and camping while they're here, and I responded, "Well . . . That might be a little uncomfortable at 6 months pregnant!" Cue excitement from Anya and "I wondered if you guys were . . . " from Tyler haha -- because apparently we don't Skype enough with them, so when we do, there has to be a big announcement ;) I told Anya I was mad at her earlier when she wouldn't just turn back around and go inside to Skype with us (not actually mad), and she was all "I'm sorry!!!" Haha it was funny :)

**ashleynicole