Telling The Parents

First, a phone call to Grandma Judy. She screamed ecstatically and was so thrilled. I actually called her back later to remind her that she was not allowed to tell anyone. Second, tell Gammie. She was so caught up in Mike's long story about how Sierra wasn't eating, we completely caught her off guard. Surprise! She, too, was overjoyed for us. Last, but not least, dinner with Poppy. He's not much of a baby kind of person, and he was as shocked as we had first been, but of course he was happy for us. It felt nice to share it with our parents, but we weren't ready to tell anyone else yet! Until . . . Mike couldn't avoid his sister on the phone and couldn't not tell her once they were talking. Kris immediately promised many sewing projects among her enthusiastic screams.

Sierra's First Camping Trip

We went to Christopher Creek, a favorite camping spot. The weather was perfectly cool and crisp. The husky even shivered some. This was where some good things happened. We accepted the fact we're having a baby and even talked about baby names. A girl name was quickly picked, although we are keeping it a secret. The boy name is a lot more elusive. Sierra finally started eating again, that weirdo! We got a lot of comments about her being a wolf. Especially from one very adament boy "I know these things, Dad, that's a wolf" declaring as we passed on a walk. Sierra was, however, put to shame by another couple with two huge huskies. She looked weenie! Sierra was not an ideal tent camper, but we imagine she'll get better as we camp more. Babies camp, right? The trip home was not as pleasant. We ran into car trouble that slowed us down to a shaky forty miles per hour top speed all the way home. As it turned out, if we had turned the car off and back on, we could've made it back to town a lot easier, although we still would have had to take it to the shop. But, you shouldn't risk turning your car off in the middle of nowhere in case it doesn't turn back on. Too many scary movies where bad things happen to stranded campers. Speaking of stranded, at least we didn't get caught hiking in a hail storm this trip!

Getting Some Knowledge On!

You can imagine our surprise... We needed to get used to the idea of becoming parents and soon. We scheduled an appointment for the doctor, but it was in another 4 weeks. Left to our own devices, we could just Google search our way through parenthood. However, we knew we were now responsible for a delicate human being and needed a bit more than morons on Yahoo answers. A quick trip left us with some vitamins and reading materials... and it was awkward. For the first week, the only people that knew we were pregnant were the cashiers at Walgreen's and Borders Books. Despite both of us almost hyperventilating, we came out of an awkward day with two great books we'd definitely recommend to some shocked, squeamish parents-to-be. The first book was The Pregnancy Instruction Manual, which is funny and has awesome pictures that don't make you lose your appetite. The other book is Your Pregnancy Week by Week. We read that week's chapter every weekend and despite making Tif feel the pregnancy is going way too fast, it gives us the low down about what's happening each week. A major topic of discussion that weekend: when are we going to tell everyone?

We're what!?!?!

The month is October. The Phils are beginning their playoff run (I won't tell you what happened). Tif had been having a tough couple of months at school with her class. She started teaching a 1st / 2nd Grade combo and was stressed out. A month into school, she was very relieved to hear she'd be losing her 1st Graders and gaining some more 2nd Graders to fill out a 2nd Grade class. The group of kiddos were much tougher and the stress was mounting. By the time early October came around, along with Fall break, Tif thought stress had to do with some strange goings on in her body. Meanwhile our dog, Sierra, was not eating a thing. (Dogs know all.) We should have known what was up, but decided to take a pregnancy test later in the week to make sure it wasn't just stress. Following the Phillies' Roy Halladay and his playoff no-hitter debut, we set out to Walgreen's. Another trip to Walgreen's and 4 pregnancy tests later, we still couldn't believe it. A million thoughts, feelings, and questions surged in our heads.... We were pregnant.