Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Christmas Day

Ray and I spend a quiet Christmas Day, opening our gifts to each other and from his family. We mostly hang around the house in our pajamas all day, clean up a little, and watch movies. We're relieved our families know now, and we're no longer hiding a big (exciting) secret from the world.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

First Christmas at the New House

We host the Christmas Eve Day gathering with my family - a break from tradition as usually it is at mom's house. Mom's had a tough fall with knee replacement surgery, the death of her mother, and trying to work full time while in the final year of her Master's degree. She is exhausted, and we are happy to do it. We wanted a home we could entertain in. Although my brother, Scott, isn't with us this Christmas, we set up family pictures with a time delay on the digital camera. We take a couple normal, happy smiling pictures. Then, during the delay before the last click, Ray announces "Oh, by the way... we're having a baby!" SNAP. My sister, Kathleen is already hugging me by the time the photo is taken, and there are great looks of surprise and excitement on the faces of the rest of the adults. The kids however... look pretty oblivious. Emily is most excited, though, when she realizes what's going on. She is FINALLY getting a cousin (the first one for her!) The first niece/nephew for Kathleen and Andrew. Kathleen intermittently cries throughout the day out of joy. Dinner, by the way, was FABULOUS: Prime Rib (Andrew's first), Honey Baked Ham, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, Andrew's sausage stuffing, coconut cream pie, blueberry pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie. More food than 9 people could ever eat in one day.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Telling Family...

We've decided to wait a bit before we start telling people. There is so much that can go wrong during the early days of pregnancy. By the time Christmas rolls near, we can hardly stand it. We decide to tell Ray's folks first, and he spends distracted days at work trying to think up a clever way to tell them. At last, he comes up with a story, and calls his mother: So, we've just bought this older house and it needs a few upgrades. We think we need to replace the windows, so we had this guy come in to evaluate it. He showed us some nice bay windows for the living room, so we're really thinking about those. We narrowed it down to 3 options: Bay A has this flowery etched glass, it's pretty, but probably more flowery than we'd like it. Bay B has a simple leaf pattern which we like, and Bay C is just kind of plain. So we've thought about it for a while, and we think we're going to go with the BAY-B. He waits a moment, and Effie gets it... "You're going to have a baby?" Much excitement all around. Now we have to repeat the process with Dad. Raymond doesn't get it quite as fast, but eventually gets it, and Ray is thrilled with his cleverness. After the call with Mom and Dad is over, we call Tara. Now Tara is in the midst of home improvements herself, and is very focused on the fact that we would be spending all this money on etched bay windows. She's thinking to herself what kind of a snob Ray is becoming with his new house. Ray repeats the options a few times... Yeah, so we think we're just going to have a Bay B. Nothing. She keeps talking about windows and options. I tell Ray to just be done with it and tell her. Finally he says it again, Bay B... and she repeats it... Baby. The light bulb clicks and she SCREAMS! (Which, I'm sure, made the kids come running). She's crying and so excited she can hardly stand it. Ray is beaming, and I'm laying, nauseated and exhausted on the couch. All in all, good stuff!

Sunday, December 16, 2007

The Beginning...

On December 14th, I tell Ray that I'm over a week late. I give him some time for that to sink in, and he asks me if I have a pregnancy test. I've already suspected (well, KNOWN) for several days now, I'd picked one up earlier in the week. Unfortunately, I was so confident I knew what was going on, I didn't bother to read the instructions on the stick, and peed on it backwards. We got no results that night. On the morning of December 15th, while Ray is at the gym, I try it again... and behold... the blue line. I knew already, but now I have proof that my exhaustion, increasing nausea and various sensitivities and pains have good reasons. That night, we have the Holiday Party for Forest View Hospital. Yay me... I get to be designated driver!