It's been a family tradition (apparently ever since my mom and dad first married) to get together as an extended family for Sunday lunch. This tradition has taken place at a variety of places and with a variety of people, including friends, dates, and extended family. The menu has ranged from grilled steak all the way to chili dogs, but it's never really been about the food. It's always been a special tradition to me, in a sense being a small family reunion each week. Therefore, I knew that once Marci and I had a house of our own, we'd want to host Sunday lunch.
This past Sunday, we finally had our house fixed up to a point where we could have everybody over. Brandon and Sam were busy, but we still had most of our usual crowd with Nana, Mom, Greg, Brenda, Tim, Katie, and Lucas. We also extended the invitation out to Marci's parents, who came in from Harker Heights along with Marci's cousin, Andrew. Marci "made" lasagna (the Stouffer's people were a little help) and salad, Mom brought bread, Nana brought chocolate cake (half without nuts for me!), Brenda and Tim brought another dessert and tea, and Mary and Jim brought tea and helped finish out the meal by bringing disposable plates, cups, and silverware. We had to be spread across three tables, but everybody was eventually able to get through our little kitchen and into a place to sit and eat.
We walked almost everybody through the house to either see it for the first time, or see what we'd done since the last time they visited. Only the master, living room, kitchen, and dining room have really changed; the rest of the house is as it had been since Sean and Cami moved out. There was one particular decorating element, on our mantle, that got a couple of comments and even caused Mary to pull me aside to ask about it.
Something extra was hung by the chimney with care...
Well, after everybody was settled down eating (actually at the next commercial break, for the folks who were watching football), Marci and I stood up and told everyone that Marci's pregnant! That elicited quite a bit of surprise and congratulations, and started a pretty lengthy discussion about how to decorate the nursery, what furniture we needed, how Marci had been feeling, and who else knew.
So, the details (and other odds and ends):
* Marci was 8 weeks pregnant on Sunday. We're counting weeks the way the doctor does--from last cycle, not from conception. We're only 6 weeks post-conception, which I kinda like because it feels like there's more time. Baby Dieterich right now has a due date of July 16th, so if he or she is a little early, it might share a birthday with Daddy.
* Marci's fine. She's been elated ever since we found out. Her only real complaint so far has been "morning" sickness, which is a complete scam because it affects her all day. She's had it since week 6, but she's getting by with small meals every 2 or 3 hours.
* Marci is four weeks behind another couple in our church, Joel and Sarah, and two weeks behind Mary's friend, Sherry. So who knows, maybe there's some friends in the making.
* Funny story: Nana actually predicted this was going to happen. On October 7th, the day before we closed on our house, we stood outside her house with her and talked about how unsure we were about buying a house and how much of a commitment it was. She told us that you never really know for sure and that even if you feel ready, other things can often come up that make you doubt it. In fact, she said, in her experience people would finally make the decision to buy a house, and then almost as soon as they did, they'd wind up pregnant with a whole new set of financial worries. Well, we closed on our house on the 8th, and the first night we stayed in our new home (the 16th) was when "the magic" happened.
* Funny story 2: While we were in Washington, D.C., Marci's brother BJ began to suspect that Marci was pregnant (he's been "suspecting" almost ever since he and Courtney had their child). In reality, ever since we had... well, stopped trying not to conceive... about a year ago, I told Marci not to drink alcohol during the last two weeks of her cycle, just in case. We didn't know it at the time and were just being cautious, but it turned out to be a good thing that she turned down the drinks she was offered, since Baby Dieterich was visiting D.C. with us. (and just think, the airport screeners had no idea we were smuggling someone else onto the plane!)
* Funny story 3: We'd been practicing what's called the Fertility Awareness Method for about a year, not really using it to conceive or prevent, but just know what's going on. Apparently a woman's temperature rises in the days following ovulation. One of the "rules" is that after 18 consecutive days of high temperatures, you're either ill or you're pregnant. Since I was the one keeping track of her chart, I actually knew Marci was pregnant before she did!
* Funny story 4: That 18th morning we just happened to have dentist appointments really early. We don't have dental insurance so they tried to keep our costs down by staggering when we each of us had X-rays done. I wasn't really wanting to tell anybody anything too prematurely (since my hygenist is a family friend), so I tried to get them to take my X-rays this time (just in case there was something that could harm the baby). Well, Marci had mentioned a tooth was bothering her, and my teeth were (as usual) perfect, so they did hers. I was paranoid about it during my cleaning, but when I finished I asked her about it, and she said it was cool. They put the big lead vest over her like they always do. Plus, as it turns out, her hygenist was 6 months pregnant at the time, and so Marci was able to explain that we were going to know any day now but that maybe she was, and the hygenist reassured her that it was okay (and she works around that all day). After the appointment, Marci went home, took a pregnancy test, and confirmed what we suspected. Then, to tell me, she calls me at work--she doesn't wait and surprise me, she doesn't drive out to tell me in person... heck, at least she didn't just text me: PGNT! LOL! I was lucky she had still hung onto the test so I could see it for myself.
Now, the obligatory belly picture, although it's still too early to see anything.
8 weeks