The Treasure Hunt

We decided that we better get around to telling our kids about the new baby. We have been waiting to make sure that everything was going well, but also Avrie has been very vocal lately of her desire to have a baby sister. She wouldn't even consider another baby if it is a boy. So you can imagine my hesitation to break the news to her. Originally we wanted to wait until we knew the baby's gender, but I felt like it would be less traumatic on Avrie if she knew ahead of time to let it sink in that we don't actually get to choose.

I thought it would be fun if we turned it into a treasure hunt. So Chris and I made up clues and hid them around the house for them to try and figure out what the big surprise was. Towards the end of the hunt, their clue was a stack of pictures of diapers, a bottle, pacifier, crib, etc. We asked them if this gave them any idea what their surprise might be. They both had no idea.

At the end of their hunt we had toys hidden under a blanket with a piece of paper on top that said "We are having a baby". We asked them to remove the blanket and read it outloud together. They read it and then just sat there with a blank look on their faces. That wasn't exactly the reaction we hoping going for. It was really funny. They thought that we were playing a joke on them and they weren't amuzed.

Once they finally believed what we were trying to tell them, Avrie stated her opinion once again about wanting it to be a girl. The shock of it all brought Remi to tears and he cried for a couple of hours. He claimed that he was having a "happy cry" and not a sad cry. It took the day to sink in but by the time they were home from school the next day, they had told everyone they had seen. So I took that as a good sign that they were okay with all of it.

Now we get to deal with the daily question of "how many days left, mom". We may have to get them each a calendar so that they can keep track of it themselves. The more I think about how many days I have left, the longer it will last. :)