Telling your grandparents about you

***Written April 18, 2011***
Dear Fleck,

Last night we decided to tell daddy's parents and my sister about you. Our original plan was to wait until Mother's Day but I insisted that this weekend would be the time. I needed them to know about your existence.

I found these small picture frames that I said I love my Grandma and I love my Grandpa. Immediately I knew that I wanted to use these as a special way of telling everyone about you. The plan was to put your very first picture (via ultrasound) in there and give it to each of your grandparents wrapped up as a gift. When I went to the Doctor they told me it would be a little while before we could see you. Mommy grew anxious. We decided that perhaps we would wait until Mother's Day when both families were together at our house. That plan failed when I realized that keeping you a secret was hurting her....that and everything we had planned between now and Mother's day fell through. Daddy's birthday is tomorrow and part of his birthday present was to go fishing this next weekend with his best friends/brothers. That got cancelled because they got the date of opening weekend wrong. Daddy's birthday party was going to be the following weekend, that almost got cancelled but it is still going strong and set for the 30th of this month. What really told mommy were three other things:

1. Grandma (my Mum) and Auntie Emily came in to visit me. To the average person that isn't weird, but my store is 30 minutes away and they both had school that day.

2. Friday daddy's parents came in to the store to visit me. Highly unusual because they are always so busy with other things.

3. Friday evening as I was driving home from work three large birds flews directly in front of my car and sharply turned to fly along side me for a few seconds. I sound crazy, but it really happened.

I told daddy about these things and he told me that I am crazy but he was ready to tell whenever I was. I could tell he was really excited.

Saturday night we went to your daddy's parent's house. When we got there they had just pulled up to the house after a long day of work. Daddy hid the present in the house and then went to help them put up the animals. I tried to staying out of there way and just watched. When we went inside your grandpa noticed the giftbox on the coffee table. He asked what it was and daddy told him that we found something that they might like. Grandma was the one who opened the box, the frames were upside down but she was excited thinking that we had taken photos or something. When she flipped them over she and grandpa just stared for a few seconds. Suddenly she looked up and when she did I had tears in my eyes. All we got was, "oh my god, really? are you pregnant?" I said yes and she jumped up so quickly and said she was soo excited and so happy. Grandpa started crying and so did daddy. There was so much happiness surrounding your pending arrival. I hope that you know that you are loved so much already.

Later that night we told your Auntie Emily.

I bought a little onesie that says "I love my auntie." Em came over and like we did with your grandparents we left the gift on our coffee table. We chatted a little bit and caught up on life. She noticed the box and asked if it was for her......I said, "well I suppose that you can open it, hopefully you'll like what's in it." She opened it and she had the best look on her face. Her mouth dropped and she had a huge grin on her face. All she could say is "are you really? are you really? are you really?" I nodded and she shrieked. She was super excited about you. She says she hopes you're a little girl so she can dress you up and take you everywhere. She also said she would just as happy with a cute little boy.

Sunday we told my parents.

We put their frames in two separate bags so that they each had something to open.

Sunday dinner.................wasn't exactly what I wanted to be. For starters I was starving and my dad, brother and your daddy were outside working on my brother's car and ignoring the meat on the BBQ. Needless to say, Heffer me was highly agitated. To top that off, my dad invited the neighbor over for dinner. I really wanted to eat with just my family, I wanted it to be a private thing.

After the neighbor left we retreated outside to sit and chat which is when I wanted to spill the beans but of course, the boys decided to go to the auto store. Boy, did I hit the roof but kept it inside. I just wanted to tell everyone. Upon their return I grabbed the little bags, not wanting to waste a single minute more. We had my parents sit together and open them at the same time. My dad's eyes got huge and my mum's mouth dropped. Mum's first words were, "that's not fair, I am too young!" but she smiled the whole time. Dad's first words were a million questions in one: "is he going to the naval academy? will he be a racer? what if its twins? we need a fishing pole and a bow and arrow set."

Everyone is so excited for your arrival, Fleck.

There has been nothing but love for you the moment we said the words.

You are loved.

Love,
momma