Not many people can say they were on national television. Very few can say they were on national television before seeing this beautiful world. Little Bro is among the people that can say that!
It was April 28th when I opened my email to see a response back from Rainy (yes that is her name. Kind of cool huh?!) who works at The Today Show. I had sent them an email in response to a post I saw from The Today Show on Facebook about wanting to surprise your mom for Mother’s Day. The surprise? They thought they were being flown out to the show to get an exclusive preview of the Broadway show “Violet”. The real surprise? Myself and 7 other girls were pregnant! (It ended up being only 7 of us because, unfortunately, one of the girls was sick.)
Here is the link to the article and video from the big surprise! I have no clue who the woman is that used the word “flabbergasted” on national television…
So a year ago today was the day that we got to surprise our mom’s with this amazing news! The group of girls that I met that day were beyond nice and I never would have imagined that a year later we would all still be in touch! We all have our stories. From infertility to being an army wife to losing a father. These girls are the definition of strong and I am so happy I got the chance to meet them!
This is a photo of the 7 of us with Rainy (in black jacket) and Jordan (in brown jacket) who put this whole surprise together!
Since we all met, one of the girls started a private Facebook page for all of us, including the one girl who couldn’t make it. It’s pretty cool that I feel like I’ve known these girls forever when I’ve only met them once (or not at all for the one who didn’t make it!). The Facebook page has acted as a support system during our pregnancies, births (yes, most of us were keeping the other girls updated on the FB page as we were in labor!) and now as we raise our beautiful children!
As each little miracle was born, I added them to a collage. Here’s the finished product (7 boys and 1 girl later)…
We joked about how girls are always stubborn and have to make a big deal about everything so that’s why she came last!
Four of us were on baby number 2 and the other four were first time moms. For the first time moms, we have all been there to support them and answer any questions they had before and after birth. Even for us second time moms, having these girls’ support has been great just to know we aren’t alone when it comes to the struggles of raising 2 kids! We all have family and friends that we can go to for support and that is great. But it is so nice to have this group of girls, with babies around the same age as mine, as a support system!
All 8 of us are thankful for the opportunity we had to surprise our mothers with our pregnancies. Yes, we were all excited to be on tv and to take a trip to NYC but I’m pretty sure all of them would agree that the best part was meeting each other and making new friends!
…ok, it was also pretty great to get a new Uppa Baby stroller and blanket, Johnson and Johnson gift basket and $500 Visa gift card along with the free trip to NYC! But I’m still very grateful to have met these girls thanks to The Today Show!
The same girl that set up our Facebook group made this collage for us…
It’s each of us with our little ones a year after we announced to the world (literally!) that we were expecting!
Now both of my boys can say they were on The Today Show! Oh, I forgot to mention that Big Bro was one of the Babies of the Week when he was about a month old!
I am looking forward to many years of photo collages of all of us girls with our babies! Thanks to each of you girls for all of your love and support throughout the last year!!
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers out there!!
The Excertasking Mama 