Expecting Oliver, Part 2

One of my very favorite memories of my pregnancy with Oliver was the day I told my mom that I was expecting him. My sis, mom, and I have a really fun tradition. Once a year, either in the spring or summer, we go to the Grand Concourse for brunch to celebrate our birthdays. We get a table looking out onto the river, eat plate after plate of delicious food, and drink lots of hot, fresh coffee. We talk and we eat, which is what we do best.

I knew my mom was going to be completely floored when I told her we were having baby #5, so I wanted to surprise her in a special way. The night before our brunch, I went out and bought a baby bottle, and when we arrived at the restaurant I excused myself to got to the loo and snuck to the wait stand instead. Our waitstaff could not have been more accommodating when I gave them the bottle and asked them to deliver it to her; I think they were more excited about it than I was! They poured fresh squeezed orange juice into it, and as soon as she asked for a glass of juice, they said they'd go grab it, walked quickly to the kitchen, and then returned with nothing but the bottle. They sat it in front of her, and then kindly began snapping pictures for me!

This was the very first picture they took. My sweet mom was so confused! I had a little note tied to the front of the bottle - something about her becoming a grandma again. 

 Still confused... and trying to be polite. We were celebrating her birthday and I think she just thought I was giving her a really weird present the kids had made :-).

The moment she figured it out...

"Really? Really?" she kept asking.

Now the tears... she was so excited, which meant the world to me.

This is what we call the Wheatley Family Ugly Cry. No major life event would be complete without it.

 Even the waitress cried! We all were so excited about our darling baby on the way.

I gave her a framed picture of his first sonogram, and she stared at it as if she hadn't already stared at fifteen grainy sonogram images from her first fifteen grands. She stared and stared, saying, "That's amazing." People always marvel to her, saying "Wow, only three daughters but so many grandchildren!" but God's had this figured out all along. He has given her grandbabies upon grandbabies because she cherishes them so much.