A Baby Cousin Is On The Way
About a month ago we found out that my husband’s youngest sister is going to be having a baby (due March 4th). My husband has two sisters and neither of them have had kids yet. We have two sons (ages 10 and 8).
The family was together at my husband’s parents’ house and we were about to sit down to dinner (family dinners are becoming less common as we all stay busy, however they may start to happen more with a baby on the way) when we got the news in an unusual way.
The month before this (September) I thought I was pregnant, which is ironic based on the way things went at this family dinner. My father-in-law, with a busting, ‘I can’t wait to tell you something’ smile said, “Someone here is pregnant.”
He let everyone look at each other and wonder (really only my other sister-in-law wondered because the parents already knew).
It was fun to be told that way although I knew it couldn’t be the other sister-in-law; she’s allergic to the idea of having kids of her own (she’s a great aunt though!)
After a few seconds, my pregnant sister-in-law spoke up and about the same time my father-in-law exposed who was really pregnant. It was a relatively muted reaction by everyone but I would never have expected any different from them; they are a laid back group. I am very excited from the start and I hope my enthusiasm shows.
My sons are thrilled to have a boy cousin on the way. Yesterday the kids were doing the math and figuring out how old they will be when he’s old enough to…ride a bike, go to elementary school and do other stuff like that. My oldest son said he’ll be driving when his cousin goes into pre-k. Hm, he’s right! My husband’s sister and her husband waited 14 years before deciding to have a baby, so that does have an effect on the cousin-age-difference thing. I told the kids that hey, at least they’ll have a boy cousin that they get to see. My 44 year old brother in Seattle has a 2-1/2 year old but we never see them.
This got me to thinking about what unique ways there are out there to announce a baby is on the way.
S.L.M. 11.01.09
reflections 