I love my family. I do. But over the summer, I have been annoyed as all get out everytime we get together. All we hear is,
“When are you guys having a baby?”
“You’re just scared, aren’t you?!”
“Isn’t it your turn?”
“Is it you or is it Jeremy? You can tell us.”
“Just take the plunge…you’re gonna be fine!”
What they didn’t know was that we were off the pill since the end of February. So over the summer, everytime we heard the dreaded procreate comments, I pulled out the line, “Well, it’s all in God’s timing.” I find that when you throw God in there, it tends to shut people up. I learned that in bible school. That effect lasted one time with my fam…then they were back on that bull throwing out comments like beads at a Mardi Gras parade. Which is fine. I would probably be ticked if they didn’t want a grandchild/nephew/neice. I would probably throw a hissy over why they don’t want us to go forth and multiply. I would mope over why they wouldn’t want us to fill the earth with little baby bowers. Then I would end the hissy/mope with a good ole fashioned eat-fest. Then they would have to be related to that obese girl with the emotional problems. The one that Jillian loves to beat up. They really are in a lose-lose with me 🙂
So obviously, I knew that they were gonna be excited when we spilled the beans about Babysaurus. We invited them over for some pizza. It took some doing but when we finally had my mom, dad and my sister Lori all in the same room. The lights were dimmed. The random photo slide show started. We didn’t have a plan. Just gonna let them figure it out.
My dad was having a bad night…his legs and back were hurting really bad (too much golf) so at one point he said that he was gonna take off. I basically convinced him that we weren’t gonna see each other for the next couple weeks (lie). I think I even whipped out the fake tears (curtesy of a few bruising leg pinches). I just secretly prayed he would forgive me. He went back into the room and held his eyes half open.
I, however, was wide-eyed. Looking around violently…trying to make sure I got every single flinching reaction.
Then the photo of me and the peestick popped up.
My mom asked
“Who is that girl?”
Not exactly the reaction I was looking for.
Eight seconds of silence followed.
“OH MY GOODNESS, KATIE ARE YOU PREGNANT!?!?”
“THIS IS HOW YOU ARE TELLING ME?!?!”
Do you realize how long eight seconds is? It’s long. Really long. After we confirmed we were gonna have a little Bower baby, my mom started crying and immediately wanted to rub my stomach. My dad was all smiles…and surprisingly his aches and pains had disapated. They had the questions….we told all that we knew….which wasn’t much. Then they celebrated. They prayed over us. They even dreamed with us. Their is something about babies that makes people sloppy happy. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.
And then we asked my family to do something impossible. Something that is against their very nature. Something that somehow didn’t get programmed into their brains. We asked them to keep it a secret. You see, we were gonna try to keep it on the down-low until we could tell people in person. Basically we were staring at my mother (poor Little Debbie) asking her to not spill the beans. She’s a wonderful person – but she’s not that great with keeping the can closed. I knew that two options existed. My mother could accept this challenge and possibly die from a heart attack or a brain aneruism anytime she saw a human under the age of two. Or she would fail miserably…with the grand reveal involving a billboard or a bullhorn or a body tatoo. She accepted.
Please pray for her. Her last words were “You realize that I am not gonna be able to think about anything else!”
That’s so cute! I imagine my mom will act the same way someday when I tell her of an impending fetus.
Oh and, I’m currently staring at the C&B red & white swirly plates on your sidebar wishlist. I just saw almost identical plates & bowls & cake plates at the Christmas Tree Shoppe for like $2 – $5 each. Do you have that store down there? If not and you want me to doublecheck stock/pricing up here, let me know!
How cute! Your poor mom prob just wanted to shout it to the world! Thats how mine would be!
“It’s all in God’s timing” = genius.
Our families have been bugging us, too, and we recently -ahem- pulled the goalie. I know we’re going to get lots of areyouevergoingtohaveababy-badgering at the holidays, so if you don’t mind, I am totally stealing your line! 🙂
I would have been a nervous wreck! My parents aren’t asking us when we are going to have a baby so it makes me nervous they don’t want one (or maybe they are playing it cool and using my mom’s famous reverse psychology).
Anyway, I was wondering how long you waited before you told your parents?
Your mother’s reaction — about the baby AND keeping the secret — cracked me up!
The billboard isn’t too indiscrete…
Kelly
Hahaha! That sounds like it was nerve racking for sure, but a lot of fun! I remember calling my family to tell them the news with baby number 1 (they live 4 hours away so we couldn’t do it in person). It was my favorite part of it, to hear the excitement in their voices! And even better the second time around we were out visiting them when I decided to take the test and got to share those moments with them!
Congrats again! Hope your mom can keep her ‘can’ shut!
I think people should determine when and if they have kids without any familial pressure.
Believe it or not I’m actually jealous that you were being badgered by your family to have a baby. Last spring I got the stomach flu and all my Mom kept saying was “You better not be pregnant! I’m too young to be a grandmother!” Ever since then I’ve been petrified to tell my parents when it does happen.
my mom suggested telling people, “i’m not sure but we sure are practicing a lot” when they ask about our child-bearing status. it’s funny and makes people uncomfortable.
I love that you showed them the picture-video to break the news! Such suspense!!
When we told my parents we were expecting our first it was during my dad’s birthday. We gave him a card with a hint about a ‘next step’ in our lives, and his present was a Father of the Bride 2 DVD (which is his and my favorite movie together)! My mom flipped, she yelled to my brother and sister “Your sister’s knocked up!”
Totally unlike my mom, but absolutely hilarious! Plus, we got it on video with our digital camera!
Most exciting news ever to share 🙂
🙂 How cute!!
When we found out we were pregnant, we decided to wait one whole week (probably the longest week of my life) to tell our families on Mother’s Day… we had actually already invited both families over before we knew… so, we just had to wait for lunch that day to spill the beans!
I am also going to steal that line! My family is constantly asking when we are going to have kids. Maybe this will quiet them for a little bit…at least through the Holidays!
I hate that line. “When are you going to have a baby?” We are struggling to get pregnant and it is SO FRUSTRATING. I think i am going to start throwing out the God line.
so fun and sweet!
my family is ALL over us. my mom bought a child-size kitchen at a yard sale a few weeks ago. she doesn’t even go to yard sales, so I’m not sure how that even happened. I’m pretty sure she has a secret stash of baby clothes, too … crazy woman.
LOL: “I find that when you throw God in there, it tends to shut people up. I learned that in bible school.”
My family and friends are the same way about wanting some more grandkids. Why can’t they let us decide when we want kids, or when God blesses us. That is a cool way to tell your parents! Congrats!
Love it! It’s so funny how family can be about the whole baby subject…even strangers if you don’t have kids. It’s so annoying! So I can certainly sympathize with you about all the questions and comments you received about when you and the boyfriend were going to have a baby.
I get that all the time now that I’m a newlywed and before that it was about getting engaged/married. However, I learned an important lesson last year when I joined in on the baby comments with a close friend over the past couple of years and come to find out they were having trouble getting pregnant for over a year. You can imagine what a jerk I felt like for asking and making comments about her having a baby when I didn’t know they were having trouble. My point – you never really know a couples situation even if they are family or close friends. Although, comments about engagements, weddings and babies are usually happy and encouraging its a very personal subject to a couple so people should not make assumptions and be careful what they say or just mind their own business until the couple has news to share.
I’m definitely going to try your “Well, it’s all in God’s timing.” comment.
Congrats to you and your family! How exciting!!!