This post is dedicated to my brother and sister who did an amazing job keeping my secret and helping me set up my special surprise. It would not have been possible without their help.
Before my first ultrasound I had been in contact with my sister about surprising my mom and dad with the news. Originally I considered flying home, but then realized a 7-9 hour flight would have been uncomfortable and if I actually came home people would have guessed the surprise right away. Instead my sister did an excellent job of wrapping presents for my mom and dad. She snuck to the bathroom and put me on speakerphone so I could hear it all and my brother recorded it for me. I think I've watched this video about 50 times and here are my favorite moments from it. I've ordered them in chronological order and tried to include the time codes where possible.
1. Aunt Chrissy Gets It ~ 0:18
Aunt Chrissy was around for
much of my childhood and I am so happy she happened to be here today.
Her reaction is one of my favorite parts of this video and her gasp was
the only thing I could hear on the phone. I love that she looks, she
gasps because she gets it and then she is processing what that tiny
shirt that says grandpa really means. I think dad gets it just a few
seconds later when he says "uh-oh". But Aunt Chrissy's face is just
priceless.
2. The Jaw Drop ~ 0:26
Mom's present was an frame with an
ultrasound photo inside. The actual photos we got were a little small so
I scanned the photo into the computer, enlarged it to the important
stuff and added the due date in a cute font. Dani had to take the
styrofoam parts out of the actual box because it said something about
babies all over it and would be too obvious.
Watching
mom's jaw drop totally made the price of overnight shipping worth it.
She said later on the phone that those 12 seconds felt like forever and
her brain couldn't process what she say. She knew what the photo was of,
but not really what it meant. It sounded a little unreal and it is
interesting to me to watch the video and see her jaw just drop. If you
watch in the rest of the video she keeps coming back to the photo and just looking at it.
3. The Shirt Grab ~ 0:34
I am not quite sure why I find
this as hilarious as I do, but I love that Aunt Chrissy reaches over and
starts shaking my mom by the collar of her shirt. It seems like a
moment of oh my god, do you believe this, do you really believe this?
4. Everyone Smile ~ 0:40
This is the brief moment when Dani
who did so much to make everything happen is in the shot and you can
just see a huge smile on her face. Then you see mom, dad, and Aunt
Chrissy and everyone is all smiles and tears of joy. I was pretty sure
my family would be happy about the news, but there is always a little
bit of uncertainty there and all the smiles here just mean so much to
me.
5. Who's the Mother? ~ 0:55
My ultrasound had been scheduled
for several weeks so the fact that extended family was in town and there
was a big outing to the restaurant was another happy coincidence.
However, by necessity of being a surprise most people at the table were
not in at what the presents really were. Since the presents were from me
but delivered by Dani it confused my Great Aunt Connie just a bit.
6. Oh My God ~1:15
Practically the only thing mom is able
to say for the length of the recording is "oh my god". It's barely
audible but oh so powerful. Part of the reason this is such a big shock
is that mom was talking to me on facebook the day before and she was
talking about kids and I had already mailed the surprise presents but I
didn't want her to suspect so I turned the conversation and basically
implied that kids were something I wasn't really expecting. Apparently I
did a really good job of convincing her too!
7. Mamma mamma mamma mamma mamma! ~ 1:20
So when my sister and I
were little kids The Lion King came out (20 years ago today!) and dad
took us to see it in the drive through, in the regular theater, in the
dollar theater. I know we say it 23 times in theaters as a kid and he
must have been there for a majority of them. Early in the movie there is
a scene where Simba tries to wake Mufasa up and you can hear him in the
background saying "dad dad dad dad dad dad dad". I can't be certain
but it seems like dad teasing and saying "momma momma momma" here is a
subconscious throwback to that.
8. Wish You Were Here... ~ 1:36
It is just a coincidence that dad is wearing this shirt. It was actually the name of a concert we went to together years ago, but it is interesting he just happened to be wearing it today.
9. Wah! ~ 1:45
Dad was out of camera range for a little bit, which is actually okay because he got his present open quite a bit quicker than mom. But I think it is cute that he says "Wah!" and shows off the shirt I got. It actually came in a couple of colors, but I thought the light blue was the prettiest (I can't help that I am partial to blue), but I think that led some people to think I was announcing a boy. We actually don't know yet, and everyone who has had a "feeling" thus far has said girl, but only time will tell. Anyway my dad is a pretty tall guy and looking at the little shirt he is holding vs the shirt he is wearing just seems kind of crazy.
10. Here Have a ... Napkin ~ 2:30
Dani did a great job of prepping everything for the surprise. My appointment was late afternoon on a Thursday and I had to fedex overnight the ultrasound photo, frame, and shirt to her address for it to be there in time for her to give it to mom and dad that weekend. One thing I didn't think to tell Dani to take was kleenex. I was so concerned with scanning the photo and getting it in the mail that it didn't even cross my mind. It's silly but it makes me laugh at myself. Here is a life-changing thing and everyone is excited and mom is crying and here.... have a napkin.
