The news was slowly settling in for me that we were pregnant, Danny was still in "I Can't Believe It" mode. He just kept saying, "we really thought we missed our window, I just can't believe it!" The lab work results came back on Valentine's Day. Third pregnancy test in three days to confirm we, in fact, were expecting. What beautiful news for Valentine's Day. It was so much better than conversation hearts, and I LOVE the yellow ones!
Seeing as how it was a holiday we decided it would be fun to use that as part of our announcement to my family. We knew how we were going to tell Danny's parents, those plans were all set for Friday, but while we had a holiday to work with, we were going to use it. We were Hallmark bound and can I just say, "Do you have ANY idea how scarce aunt and uncle Valentine's Day cards are?!?" Holy moley it was pretty ridiculous. We found ONE uncle card, I suppose it made it easy to decide which one to get for my brother. Aunt AND Uncle card were simply non-existent. We had to get creative with my sister and brother-in-law, but we finally walked out with four cards and KMart just happened to have baby boxes of chocolates. It was perfection.
We made our way to my parent's house only to discover my dad's car was missing. As luck would have it, someone spotted us from the kitchen window, so backing out and leaving would have raised some questions. We went in just "droppin' in" to say hello. FORTY FIVE minutes we had to stall until dad came home. By that point it was completely obvious that we were stalling. Aggghhhh....Lame sauce.
The bag of goodies rested between us on the couch. It was the poorly tucked away elephant in the room. Finally dad came home. He and mom sat on one side of the living room, my sister Kelly on the other. We handed out their cards and treats. Mom and dad open their card and mom read the front, "Mimi and Papa." At this, Kelly shot me a sidewards glance. I could tell she was wondering why we were calling them Mimi and Papa, that's what Elizabeth, my niece, calls them. It was clear that she was on to us. She pulled out her card, read Aunt on the front of hers, opened it and read only the word "Thanksgiving" (again, the first app I went to said we were due end of November not October). She didn't even finish reading the rest. She jumped up and began to jump in silence circles, fist up in the air, like the kid at the end of the Breakfast Club. Mom was next to catch on. She gasped. Dad being far more clueless, turned to her thinking something was wrong, "WHAT!?!!" She gently and excitedly patted his arm telling him to keep reading! He finally got the reason for her gasp and gasped himself. Kelly was still jumping. It was awesome! GROUP HUG! Heavens! That was so much fun. The super fun part was, we had two more houses to deliver the goodies to.
My brother was getting impatient. He knew we were coming but was eager to get to racquetball. Dad's delayed arrival threw off our timeline, but I asked that he wait until we come. He wasn't thrilled, but he did. We got to his house and I told him that someone has asked us to deliver a Valentines to him. He sighed, and kinda tossed his hair back in annoyance. I think he thought we were co-conspirators to a secret admirer. I don't think that would have gone over well with his girlfriend if we had been. That would have been awkward.
He blew past the front of the card that said, "To My Uncle" I couldn't help it and asked if read the front before moving on to the inside. "I saw it." We stood in the entry way as he read. His demeanor changed and soon he raises just his eyes and says with a HUGE grin, "Seriously!?" He was going to be an uncle once more and he was excited! He tells us, "When I saw the front I was like, why didn't Kim just give this to me?" Thinking it was from Elizabeth. Now he could go play racquetball. At that point, I think all was forgiven from holding him up from his game.
We were now on to Kim and Caleb's. We arrived unannounced in the middle of dinner. We played it coy that we just wanted to deliver some little Valentine's. We had found the PERFECT little gift for Elizabeth too. A teddy bear whose tag read "Cuddly Cousins," was that not perfect? Kim opened the card and it took her no longer than Kelly before she was on her feet in celebration. It was Kim who actually put it together that Thanksgiving was too many weeks. We tried to figure it out, but we all just walked away confused not knowing exactly when I'd be due, but just that I would be at some point :o)
What a FABULOUS night. It was so much fun to share the incredible joy of such wonderful news with my family. The best part was, we were going to get to do it all over again with Danny's parents the next night! We had known for months how we were going to tell them. It was all a matter of when. Finally that night had come and we were nervous that it wouldn't go as we hoped. We played it cool all during dinner and then it was on to playing cards. We have been playing double canasta with his parents since we started dating. We love to play and have taught friends too because it's just so much fun! The cards were all ready and now it was all in the draw.
Four decks of cards and the game was on. We just had to trust that it'd all work out. We made it through the first hand...nothing. We shuffled and were on to hand #2. Halfway through and I am pretty sure I was mid-story, Patti, my mother-in-law, kinda 1/2 gasped 1/2 screamed. "WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!!!" She looked at Lee, and threw the card on the table. I said, "Well, what does it say?" She looked up at me with big eyes, "You're pregnant?!" "I am." Weirdest thing happened. The three Knopfs I was sitting with all began to laugh hysterically together. One couldn't help but join in at the mere sight. We sat there laughing and then the men got emotional. Lee stood up with tears in his eyes, which never bodes well for my husband, he can never keep it together when his dad is in tears, which never bodes well for me because I can't keep it together when he cries. It was such a precious father-son moment one I know I will never forget.
Our families were now in on our amazing secret. I can't remember a time quite like it. We were excited and scared and overwhelmed with God's gracious blessing, and it truly was incredible being able to FINALLY surprise our family's with the news after so long of trying and praying and hoping this day would eventually come. I had been concerned that telling people we were trying would take away from the moment when we finally did get pregnant and announce it, because they'd all already know we were trying. I had NO idea just how wrong I was. It was such a fantastic three days. First to tell Danny he was going to be a daddy, then my parents and in-laws they'd be grandparents, and my siblings they'd be aunts and uncles once more, it truly was an experience I will ALWAYS treasure.
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