Liz Rose Short is no stranger to planning creative pregnancy reveals for her husband, Codie. After all, she had done it twice before: for the birth of their oldest, Liz planned a scavenger hunt, and for their soon-to-be middle child, she put the news on an adorable onesie.
Both announcements went off without a hitch.
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But Liz's reveal of her third pregnancy is without a doubt the most memorable ... mostly because it went hilariously wrong.
When she arrived home after a long day of teaching, Liz placed a single roll in the oven so she could surprise her husband by telling him they have a "bun in the oven."
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But then Codie reminded Liz that they needed their Target pickup order to make dinner that night and she hopped back in the car, thinking she could beat him home.
Codie arrived at home earlier than expected with their daughters in tow. He helpfully preheated the oven so they could cook dinner as soon as Liz arrived with the groceries.
He did not realize that the oven was not empty. The roll burned.
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Codie called Liz, who was still waiting in the Target parking lot for their order, with the fire alarm blaring in the background. Shocked, Liz raced home and started recording Codie's reaction to her explanation.
Liz's video of the reveal has been seen by 22.5 million people on TikTok. She titled it: "When you ruin your own pregnancy announcement by forgetting the bun in the oven 🤦♀️😅" and the caption is: “Announcing our burnt roll.”
"Elizabeth, I love you so much," Codie says in the video. "Why would you put a single roll in the oven?"
"It's not a roll. It's a bun," she says, adding text to the video here: "I really thought he was gonna get it here."
"OK..." he says as she giggles.
"What did you pull out of the oven?" she prompts.
"A burnt roll," he responds, clearly getting a bit annoyed but keeping his good humor.
"No, it's not a roll. It's a bun."
"OK, a burned bun," he says.
"No!" she laughs. "It's a bun."
"Uh-huh."
"In the oven," she says.
"Right."
"We have a bun ... in the oven," she concludes, as he's clearly not understanding the significance.
"I just pulled it out." He can't make it past the literal meaning of what his wife is saying.
"Codie," she says, finally spelling it out for him. "We're having a baby."
As recognition finally dawns on Codie, he tosses the roll and walks toward his wife with a huge smile lighting up his face, and the video ends.
(Courtesy GP Photography via TODAY)
Liz found out she was pregnant before Halloween but waited to post the video until she reached her second trimester and they had spread the good news to family and friends.
Codie, a submarine mechanic with the U.S. Navy, cannot dictate his schedule, and although he was present for the birth of his first daughter, he was mostly gone for the first three months of her life. He was deployed when his second daughter was born and missed her birth completely.
He has missed birthdays, holidays and virtually every major milestone while serving his country, Liz shares. Like many military families, they never know when he will have to leave or when he will return.
“It’s a unique experience to have the love of your life underwater,” says Liz.
Codie was recently stationed in Oahu, Hawaii, so the Short family moved from Virginia to the Pacific. It was tough for the family to leave their close-knit community, but Liz says the "silver lining" is that he's on shore duty, meaning that he will be more present for the arrival of his third child.
Soon-to-be big sisters Isabella, 4, and Esther, 3, are very excited for the new addition to the family, arriving in summer 2024. Liz and Codie used a recent trip to Disney's Aulani resort to help share the pregnancy news to family and friends.
In a photo with Mickey Mouse, Isabella wears a shirt that reads "Big Sister Again" while Esther sports a shirt that says, "I'm going to be a Big Sister."
(Courtesy Liz Rose)
Was Codie upset that Liz recorded his extreme confusion? Not at all.
Liz says, "He thought it was hilarious. He was the one who told me to post it!"
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
