You may not have noticed, but the holidays are coming.  The pumpkin lattes are flowing.  Costumes are on the shelves, and recipes for soups and baked treats are popping out of the woodwork. 

You may be  freaking out about how to make baby's first Christmas (or Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah) absolutely perfect.  You may be stressed out, already, about starting new family traditions or keeping up with well established roles. 

Lets open ourselves to an idea:  becoming a parent gives us the opportunity to experience joy, belonging, and love, but there is no guarantee it will be done perfectly.  We may try to keep the idea of perfection that comes with each new baby alive along as possible, but if you let go of your idea of what should happen, you open up to the possibility of what could happen.  And that may be 100 times better than you imagined.

So a few things...

This was how many people found out my daughter was born.  "Welcome Harper Ransom Swift!  5:54 pm.  8 lbs 5 oz.  19 3/4 inches." 

I got her weight wrong by two ounces; hey I just had a baby!  I had called my dad, my mom was in the room, and my siblings were all over the planet.  I used social media to make it easy.  And since 2011, many other families have decided to do the same. 

BUT, what happens when the family isn't the one sharing the news?  What if you don't want to tell the millions of people on Facebook, or Twitter, or even through Email that your baby has arrived?  What if the birth announcement on social media is not from the parents, but from someone who isn't even that close with the family?