Christmas 2008

We were very lucky this year to find a great deal on flights up North for Christmas! We are also very fortunate to have my wonderful cousin, Ron, living 3 minutes from us and willing to look after our crazy mutts for a week! So off we went to Jersey/Boston, so I could take advantage of this trip and let the family know we are expecting in person!

Before I begin, I have to start with the reason I have no pictures of Mark's family finding out...Mark has a BIG mouth! I dont know how I was the one to show restraint, but Mark had none. He told his side over the phone before we got there. I did however get 3 lists of baby names from Michael, Britt and Alex (my nieces and nephew), which were quiet extensive. I dont think I need to buy any baby name books since I think the kids wrote down most of the names in the English language. Britt also painted a beautiful picture for the baby's room, which is already in the soon-to-be nursery.

As for my side of the family, as soon as we arrived on Christmas Eve, we went straight to Nonni and Papi's to tell them. I must tell you that every single week (since the week I got back from my honeymoon) when I call my Nonni she begins the conversation with "do you have any news for me?" (in her adorable Italian accent). Of course my answer is always, "No, Bella, nothing yet." Over the last few weeks I had to tell a little fib of course because I just had to see her reaction in person!
As soon as we sat down to eat (because that is what you do the second you walk into Nonni's house), I told them I had to show them something. I took out my ultrasound picture and the moment she saw it she screamed..."No, is this true?"...followed by tears. Then almost without skipping a beat, she asked me "where are we at?" (meaning how far along are you?). I told her 9 weeks and she immediately yelled at me..."Nine weeks, I ask you if you have any news and 9 times you lie to me and say NO!" She is the most adorable person I know! Needless to say, my grandparents were both thrilled and I am sure she has already started to knit something as we type (read).
Here are a few pics of the big reveal to them...

Here are a couple of other pictures of the rest of my family finding out on Christmas Day. As my grandparents Christmas gift, I made a calendar online of family pictures. On July 30th (the due date) I wrote "Bianica's Due Date" - we also decorated the entire month of July with baby stickers. Basically, we let the family flip through the calendar until someone noticed - Tat was the winner (with a little encouraging from TJ). Once she saw, the chaos began....