Spreading the Word

Since Dawn and Erich moved closer, our goal has been to see everyone once a month--whether they come to our house or we go to their house. I knew they would be coming in October, so we decided to go in September. The 8th was the only weekend UGA didn't have a home football game (I wonder who suggested that date??!! Xon doesn't know I'm on to his scheme.), and Dawn and Erich were going to Lexington for Labor Day, so the 8th it was. I told Mom we were coming, and she planned a family picnic for Saturday so we could see everybody. Little did I know I would have some big news to share at that picnic!

We arrived at Mom's house around 10 p.m. on Friday. Datya was already in bed, so I knew I was going to have to wait until Saturday morning to tell her our news. It's bad to wake up a sleeping baby, after all! (Alex sleeps in the same room as Dawn and Erich right now.)

So, I stayed awake most of the night and FINALLY heard Dawn moving about in the morning. But I couldn't get her alone, so I took a shower and took another pregnancy test so she could see the results in person. I had a digital test, and the results would only stay on the monitor for an hour, so I knew I would have to tell her in that amount of time--even though I was all nervous and shaky. Eventually I saw that she was in the bathroom putting her contacts in--alone. So I handed the test to her and said, "I thought you might want to see this." It took a minute for her to catch on, but she got it and asked if I was serious. She laughed and hugged me and said, "This is how you tell me??!!" Well, like I said, I was all nervous and shaky, so that's the best I could do. :-0

We then went to tell Mom, who was holding Alex in the kitchen. I handed her the test, and she got the biggest smile on her face and hugged me. Erich came in and said, "I knew that was going to happen!" Then Mom said we had to call Dad because he was working at the farm and wouldn't be back until the picnic at 3 p.m. So Dawn called, but she got the answering machine. She told Dad to call us before he left the farm. He called a few minutes later. Dawn handed the phone to me, and I said to Dad, "You have two grandkids now. One's just not here quite yet." :-) It took him a minute to catch on too, but then he said, "Really??!!!" Then he started rambling about who knows what--as dads tend to do, I think, when their babies tell them they are having babies. :-) So I told him to just come on home. :-) Mom later said we sure were going to have a long commute, because all grandkids have to live with her. :-)

Well, Mom and Dawn had a trick up their sleeves. When Dawn and I went to the grocery to get some picnic supplies, Dawn got a cheesecake and had the lady working in the bakery write, "We're Pregnant! Katie and Xon" in red icing. So when everyone got to Mom's house, we put the cake out on the table with the rest of the food and let everyone discover the news for themselves. --Aunt Joyce (Dad's sis) was the first to notice. I couldn't tell if she thought it was good or bad news, but I think she was just afraid she wasn't supposed to have noticed yet. She then came over and gave me a big hug, and then everyone else figured it out. Aunt Connie (Mom's sis) said she knew it!


We couldn't get in touch with Xon's mom at first, but we tried a little while later, and she answered her cell phone at work. She thought something was wrong, but Xon assured her everything was "right," and they said it at the same time: "You're/We're having a baby!"

Xon's dad is on a cruise, so we can't get in touch with him yet, but he's coming to visit in three weeks, so we may just tell him in person then. I may actually have heard the heartbeat by then! :-)

Everyone left after the picnic--though Aunt Joyce was so sweet and wanted to make sure before she left that I would take extra good care of myself. :-) Erich told me I had to eat lots of protein to build baby's brain. We then spent the rest of the weekend playing with Baby Alex and trying to get over the shock. :-) --On a side note, Alex is such a cutie! I can point at Erich and say, "Alex, who is that?" And he says "Dada!" AND he took his first steps today! I'm such a proud auntie. :-) I just wish he would have done it yesterday so we could have seen it!!!!!

More stories to come!