Sharing the News.

Probably the second most exciting thing about being pregnant is finally letting everyone know our "little secret". Matt and I didn't want to share that our family was expanding too soon. With all the scares of miscarriage and other things going wrong, we wanted to be certain we were "in the clear". That's what made it even more exciting for us! We'd been waiting 3 long months to squeal with delight, hug, shed tears, and get excited all over again about a new baby! Although it's taken almost 4 weeks to finally tell everyone- it's been so worth it!

Guth's + DeFrancisco Sibling Reveal
Matt and I took an adorable picture of Harper with our "not so newborn but oh so adorable" baby converse tennis shoes right before Easter. We knew we wanted to send Easter themed packages to our siblings/nieces/nephews to throw off the obvious reason for a gift. So we decided an adorable puzzle with the photo, stuffed Easter eggs with random puzzle pieces (and other delicious goodies), and taped a super secret 'Do Not Open' envelope within the box. These boxes worked out perfectly! GiAnna was the first to solve her puzzle (mind you that there was NO picture for them to reference as they built!) Followed closely by Maddox and Isabelle. Aria and Neven were lucky little ones who got to experience Uncle Nick and Aunt Lauren's "Eggscape Box". That's right! Matt and I designed our very own Baby-Reveal-BreakOut-Box. Originally Shaun and Heather were suppose to be home from Disney when they opened their box- but it was EVEN BETTER that everyone was together! The night was filled with hilarious photos, videos, and a celebratory phone call. Sigh- so fun.

The Best Parents Get Promoted to Grandparents Reveal
Mom and Dad deserved a different kind of creative reveal. Therefore Matt designed an awesome coffee mug with Harper's photo, the quote from above, and a "November 2017" photo for each mug. We surprised my parents by opening the gift with them (as a hoax we said it was for Dad's birthday- NOT!) and Matt's parents were taken off-guard with a special delivery to their door. Lots of squeals of excitement followed by happy tears! Again- we couldn't have planned it even better!

Close Friends
Now that our immediate family knew, the next week we decided to start telling our closest friends. This was completely random and just fun to do on a whim. Matt being the ever sly one had great one liners he'd slid into conversation like, "Oh you know she's with child" or "Yeah going to be busy in November, having a kid." Ha! I sent the official announcement picture to most or a silly BitEmoji with a line like "I think I need to do some updating." (Totally NOT as clever as Matt!) We made personal phone calls to our grandparents as well. No matter how we shared, it was so thrilling all over again to answer the outpouring of texts and calls from our closest friends!

The WORLD

With all those closest to our hearts know "in" on our exciting secret, we posted to the world on social media on Friday April 28th. We used the converse picture and just let the love roll in! On May 5th, Kristi and Wendi did an amazing song/chant for our staff as part of my announcement- I was literally in tears! It was the best! They even surprised me with an adorable black onesie for the Baby saying "#5thGradeLittle" Those girls! Now the only ones left to find out were my students. So today (May 10th) my mom helped me put together a surprise announcement for them. We played a game of hangman at the end of the day and celebrated together with hugs and cupcakes! I wasn't sure how they'd react (I mean they ARE 10 and I am just their teacher)- but it was so amazing. They were SO excited, asking all kinds of questions, giving hugs, holding my hand, and grinning ear-to-ear with me. It was incredibly special to also have my mom be there during this time. 

So there you have it- no more hiding my little bump that's slowly appearing (Matt just smiles at me randomly and sweetly says "you're showing a little babe". Melts my heart every time) or pretending BIG things are happening. Phew- WE DID IT! Now comes the next fun part- 2nd Trimester! I can't wait to document more exciting adventures of Baby DeFran along the way. But for now....here's some memorable photos from the past few weeks.

Of course some random Bump Selfie Humor!