spreading the news

so i have seriously been agonizing over this decision.  because that's what i do.  i overthink and worry about things to the point of total exhaustion and then i give up and make a decision and then i still think about it too much and wonder if i made the right decision, even after i make the decision and the event happens.  i'm awesome like that. 

so far the pregnancy is known to: me, matt, callie (my sister), anthony (her husband), and abriel, dave, and cal (our friends in georgia).  and a few of abriel and dave's friends in peachtree city.  but i'm pretty sure i can trust them.  i've been trying to decide when and how to tell our families, followed by my bosses, and then a slow trickle to our closest friends, followed by the official facebook announcement to the general public. 

timing-wise, it looks like it's going down like this.  matt and i have hosted a small, immediately-family-only party for the 4th of july every year for the past 3 years.  since the 4th falls on a tuesday this year, we had to alter our plans.  so we thought we'd throw the party on one of the weekends before and make the announcement to our families then.  my hope was that we could have the party on the 23rd of june.  i'll be 11 weeks on the 22nd, so it seemed like good timing.  we could tell our parents then, and then over the next week i'd tell my bosses and our closest friends, and then on/around july 4th, make it facebook-official.  unfortunately, the 23rd didn't work for all parties (namely, my mom and jeff) so we had to make it the 30th.  i'll be 12 weeks.  i know it's only one additional week, but it feels like a big difference.  i could be showing by 12 weeks.  i really want to tell our families and my bosses before i get a response like, "uh, yeah, duh...i kinda figured."  i'd like to avoid that, if at all possible. 

then, my sister brought up the excellent point that maybe we should tell my dad separately.  he hasn't remarried and would be coming to the party alone.  it could potentially be awkward for him to hear the good news with his ex-wife, her new husband, and his entire family.  at first i thought it was silly, that he would just be happy, but the more i thought about it, the more i realized she was probably right.  so now, i've scheduled a haircut in hershey (yes, i still drive 90 minutes back to hershey just for a haircut!) for the 23rd and we'll  meet up with my dad for lunch or dinner and tell him he's gonna be a grandpa!  then leave it up to him to come to the party or not.  since i'm definitely worried about showing by 12 weeks, i'm going to keep an eye on my belly.  if i feel like i'm starting to look pregnant by the 23rd, then we'll alter our plans and we'll just visit each of our parents and give them the good news separately. 

if we're able to hold out until the party, our plan is to tell everyone that we want to get a group photo.  matt and i will take the picture, and when we count down for the photo, we'll just say "1, 2,....we're pregnant!"  i'll set my camera to take multiple shots at once and we'll be able to document everyone's reactions.  i'm hoping we can wait and do this, because it would be so fun to get a good shot and frame it in the nursery.  right?!  how cute would it be for baby to see how excited his/her family was to learn he/she was coming?!  i die. 

once the family knows, then i'll tell my bosses, coworkers, and bffs.  what do you think?  is 12 weeks too late?