Christmas 2006

On Christmas Eve, at Grandma Jost's house, it was finally time for the big family announcement. We had done such a good job of keeping the secret up until then, especially my dad, who thought it was terribly unfair that he didn't get to tell his parents the big news. But you have to understand, we have a HUGE family. And I really wanted to surprise my Grandma and Aunt Lauralee at Christmas face to face, rather than just tell them over the phone. I wanted it to be special.
So, during the gift exchanging time I gave both of them an ornament (shaped like baby items: a bear and a rubber duckie). On the bottom we had written, "baby Gutierrez arriving in July 2007". It took them a few seconds to catch on, but once they did there was an explosion of squealing, laughing, and general hysteria among the aunts and cousins. Then, for the benefit of those across the room who had no idea what was happening, my Dad announced in his most proud grandpa voice "Sarah's pregnant!". To which the entire place went into applause and happy shouting. Again, Manny was greeted with many congratulatory pats on the back and "way to go man" comments.
We were just 8 weeks along then and I was feeling some terrible "all day" sickness about that time. Even with the nausea and tiredness, it was a very fun way to tell the family about our baby news.