Its time to branch out in my writing career. I started off with a blog about my return to Mexico and all that was involved with that. I am always thinking of new subjects to write about, and I now I have the perfect topic. Our first pregnancy. In other words, this is a "daddy blog." I think it will be a good way to record and chronicle my thoughts and feelings as we go through this journey. If you have read my other blog Nameless Traveler, you may have read my post about finding out that we were having a baby. If you haven't read it, you should definitely take the time to do so.
As I write this blog I will try to stay from the cliches about this being a life changing event, and how nothing will ever be the same, and so and and so forth. But the truth is that this is a truly life changing event. Nothing will ever be the same. We will be first time parents, my parents will be first time grandparents, and my grandparents will be first time great grandparents. We are introducing s new family member to both families.
I was particularly excited about telling my parents they are going to be grandparents. I had watched videos of people telling their parents in creative ways, and I always wanted to do something like this. When I got married, and we started talking about having kids, the wheels began turning. These creative announcements always involved the parents opening some kind package containing an ultrasound, a bottle or a pacifier, and even the pregnancy test(which is strange.)
When you start talking about having kids you find yourself strolling down the baby aisle for not particular reason. My wife is rather fond of the baby section, and as a man, I do not share her enthusiasm for it. It actually makes me nervous to see these things that we "have to" buy. See, when you don't have kids you never realize how many things are "required" for the raising of a child in our society. You also don't realize how expensive these things can get. I will probably dedicate a whole post to this scourge known as "baby proofing." (Did you know that they have "baby proofing experts"? More on that later)
It was during one of these excursion in to the baby section when I saw a baby bib that said, "Amo a mis abuelos."(I love my grandparents.) I immediately filed this in my brain as the perfect was to tell my parents. The week that we found out that we were having a baby, we started to look for this item or anything like it. The bib that I originally saw was not where I had seen it before, so that was no good. We were planning to tell them on a Saturday so time was running out. We found some things, but they were not exactly gender neutral so they were no good as well. We finally just decided to have one made. My wife bought an inexpensive, gender neutral onesie, and she had them print our message on it.
Meanwhile, I was trying to plan a family get-together so we could drop the news. This became extremely complicated for many reasons. It was important that we all be there, so I had to coordinate all of schedules while trying to maintain the appearance that nothing was going on. This became extremely difficult as everything started to go wrong.
Our original plan was for Saturday evening. We had a small window between the time my wife got done working and the time my brother had to go to work. Everything was going smoothly until I found out that my dad was going to be leaving town right at 3:00. Great. In a panic I text my mom and reschedule for Friday night. It was already Friday by that point, so we were trying to arrange this hours before it was actually going to occur. I told my wife to show up at my parent's house at about 4:30. I was at the shop with my dad, and I figured if could get him to leave work at 5:00 this would give us plenty of time.
At around noon I pulled my brother aside. I needed this moment caught on film, so I was in need of a camera man. Although my wife had told a few people about the pregnancy, I had not personally told anyone. I decided that I was going to tell him first. So I did. In my dad's office, as my dad was a few feet away working; he did not suspect a thing. My brother's subdued response was exactly what I expected from him. No more, no less. "That's crazy." That was it. Then we laid out a basic plan for how we were going to pull this off.
As the hour approached I told my dad that we should hurry and finish so we could have dinner as a family before my brother went to work at 5:40. He said ok, and I left to go to his house. I showed up at their house, and my mom had just come home. The original plan had been to have dinner at the house, but they had decided at some point to go out and eat because my mom didn't have time to make dinner. This complicated our situation a little bit more.
My brother had to go to work so he ordered his food to go while we waited for dad. Fortunately my dad walked in shortly after. He sat down and my wife, my brother and I all looked at each other. The time had come.
My wife gave me the gift box under the table. It contained the present wrapped in a doily that my grandmother had made. I handed my phone to my brother who started recording as I gave my mom the gift box.
She opened it curiously, slightly confused as she unwrapped the onesie. When she read what was on it she stared at it blankly. She showed it my dad. They didn't say a word for what felt like an eternity. Then they smiled. They looked at us as if to say, "Really? Is this for real?"
We smiled and nodded. There was a definite sense of relief. We were both nervous about how they would respond. I knew they would be happy, but seeing their faces at that moment made it very real and special. They started asking the usual questions, and we had dinner. It was Mexican food, in case you were wondering.
So that is that story. I'm sure there will be many more, and many other thoughts as well.
As I write this blog I will try to stay from the cliches about this being a life changing event, and how nothing will ever be the same, and so and and so forth. But the truth is that this is a truly life changing event. Nothing will ever be the same. We will be first time parents, my parents will be first time grandparents, and my grandparents will be first time great grandparents. We are introducing s new family member to both families.
I was particularly excited about telling my parents they are going to be grandparents. I had watched videos of people telling their parents in creative ways, and I always wanted to do something like this. When I got married, and we started talking about having kids, the wheels began turning. These creative announcements always involved the parents opening some kind package containing an ultrasound, a bottle or a pacifier, and even the pregnancy test(which is strange.)
When you start talking about having kids you find yourself strolling down the baby aisle for not particular reason. My wife is rather fond of the baby section, and as a man, I do not share her enthusiasm for it. It actually makes me nervous to see these things that we "have to" buy. See, when you don't have kids you never realize how many things are "required" for the raising of a child in our society. You also don't realize how expensive these things can get. I will probably dedicate a whole post to this scourge known as "baby proofing." (Did you know that they have "baby proofing experts"? More on that later)
It was during one of these excursion in to the baby section when I saw a baby bib that said, "Amo a mis abuelos."(I love my grandparents.) I immediately filed this in my brain as the perfect was to tell my parents. The week that we found out that we were having a baby, we started to look for this item or anything like it. The bib that I originally saw was not where I had seen it before, so that was no good. We were planning to tell them on a Saturday so time was running out. We found some things, but they were not exactly gender neutral so they were no good as well. We finally just decided to have one made. My wife bought an inexpensive, gender neutral onesie, and she had them print our message on it.
Meanwhile, I was trying to plan a family get-together so we could drop the news. This became extremely complicated for many reasons. It was important that we all be there, so I had to coordinate all of schedules while trying to maintain the appearance that nothing was going on. This became extremely difficult as everything started to go wrong.
Our original plan was for Saturday evening. We had a small window between the time my wife got done working and the time my brother had to go to work. Everything was going smoothly until I found out that my dad was going to be leaving town right at 3:00. Great. In a panic I text my mom and reschedule for Friday night. It was already Friday by that point, so we were trying to arrange this hours before it was actually going to occur. I told my wife to show up at my parent's house at about 4:30. I was at the shop with my dad, and I figured if could get him to leave work at 5:00 this would give us plenty of time.
At around noon I pulled my brother aside. I needed this moment caught on film, so I was in need of a camera man. Although my wife had told a few people about the pregnancy, I had not personally told anyone. I decided that I was going to tell him first. So I did. In my dad's office, as my dad was a few feet away working; he did not suspect a thing. My brother's subdued response was exactly what I expected from him. No more, no less. "That's crazy." That was it. Then we laid out a basic plan for how we were going to pull this off.
As the hour approached I told my dad that we should hurry and finish so we could have dinner as a family before my brother went to work at 5:40. He said ok, and I left to go to his house. I showed up at their house, and my mom had just come home. The original plan had been to have dinner at the house, but they had decided at some point to go out and eat because my mom didn't have time to make dinner. This complicated our situation a little bit more.
My brother had to go to work so he ordered his food to go while we waited for dad. Fortunately my dad walked in shortly after. He sat down and my wife, my brother and I all looked at each other. The time had come.
My wife gave me the gift box under the table. It contained the present wrapped in a doily that my grandmother had made. I handed my phone to my brother who started recording as I gave my mom the gift box.
She opened it curiously, slightly confused as she unwrapped the onesie. When she read what was on it she stared at it blankly. She showed it my dad. They didn't say a word for what felt like an eternity. Then they smiled. They looked at us as if to say, "Really? Is this for real?"
We smiled and nodded. There was a definite sense of relief. We were both nervous about how they would respond. I knew they would be happy, but seeing their faces at that moment made it very real and special. They started asking the usual questions, and we had dinner. It was Mexican food, in case you were wondering.
So that is that story. I'm sure there will be many more, and many other thoughts as well.
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| Blurry Picture. You get the idea. |
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