Conference moira::parenting

    I wasn't creative at all.
    
    I just called and told them when I was due.
    
    ... then I waited until they picked themselves and the phone off the
    floor. To say that our families were shocked is an understatement of
    Zen proportions.
    
     Annie

    I like the way my sister told my parents.  She wrapped up a picture 
    that had one of those frilly "Love is ..." sayings in it, real pretty.
    And on the back wrote "Love from Baby xxx" (xxx being the last name 
    the baby will have).  Of course, Mom didn't get it right away, so we
    have something to laugh about now.
    
    Janice

    Congratulations on your pregnancy.  I love having two.
    
    We were blessed with timeliness in telling my family.
    
    With our first it was near a holiday so we bought gifts for all the
    grandparents and great-grandparents: mugs/picture frames with I'm a new
    grandma, or I love my grandpa...  My dad got it right away, but my mom
    just kept looking at me with a puzzled face.
    
    With our second it was great.
    
    We were having dinner at my parents' house the night we decided to tell
    them.  My brother was there with his girlfriend who started to say that
    her sister just had her FIFTH son in FIVE years.  My mother was asking
    how she handles it, oh my, 5 kids in 5 years, when I interjected with
    "Well, it seems ours will be 3 years apart."  The screams could have
    woken the dead.
    
    I told my aunt (to whom I'm very close) by appearing at her office one
    day after a prenatal exam (her office is in the same bldg as my
    doctor).  She saw me, asked if everything was ok, I said yes, then she
    said, just a yearly checkup?  When I said, no she started bawling.
    
    Telling everyone is almost as fun as telling everyone that the baby is
    here.
    
    Good luck.
    
    /Susan
    
    

    
    Not very "cute" ... but you could take a picture of a "positive"
    pregnancy test kit, and stick it in with other photos that you want to
    share with the family.  It might take a min for people to get it.
    
    It's the 1st photo in Jason's baby-book  (-:
    

    We sent grandparent and auntie and uncle cards for the holiday that
    was coming up.  It took them all a few minutes to "get it" when they
    read their cards. Then the phone started ringing.
    

Here is what we did...

My husband and our daughter had gone to visit my in-laws
in SD for a week.  At the end of the week I flew there to 
meet them.  I carried with me a beautiful gift basket 
(from the Gift in a Basket store in Nashua, but you can 
make your own too) and I had a card in which I signed my 
name, my husband's name, my daughter's name and Baby.  They
loved the basket (it had wine and two glasses, cheese, 
chocolate and some kitchen utensils) and they were very 
surprised when they read the card.  I figured that in this 
way, I was giving them something nice for having us there, 
and I didn't have to figure out what to say about the baby.

  --Cida

	My sister gave our dad a bottle of Old Grandad whiskey for
	a present......

	He got it right away, took my mom a minute.

	Norma

    We sent pink and blue carnations to the grandparents with the
    following on the card.  It was the first grandchild on both sides.
    
           Pink or blue,
           A he or a she,
           Congratulations to, 
           The grandparents to be!
    
    The second time we wrote little poems on blue paper and decorated it
    with pink baby stickers and mailed them to our parents.
    
    Have fun!
    
    

    My parents were in Aruba.  
    
    I called and had the receptionist tell them not to worry, that I would
    tape the movie that wanted so badly to see so they wouldn't miss it.
    
    The movie was "She's having a baby".  
    
    cj

    For our first son, I made a card for my folks with the following poem:
    
    	For your anniversary present
    	We made you something, wait and see
    	You can't buy it in a store
        You won't see it on T.V.
    	You can give it hugs and kisses
    	You can bounce it on your knee
    	It will be here in October
    	It's your brand new Grandbaby
    
    I used pictures cut out of magazines in place of the words
    present, T.V., store, Kisses, Knee, and October, and on the
    inside of the card was a large picture of a baby grand piano
    with two lines drawn underneath and arrows showing that the
    words are reversed.  It took my Mom awhile to figure it out
    but my Dad got it right away (Mom kept saying, "A Piano"??)
    
    I did something similar for baby number 2 but can't recall
    the poem right now!  For baby number 3, I called them up on
    Christmas Day and sang the following song (to the tune of
    God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen):
    
    God rest ye merry grandparents this Christmas don't dismay
    Your children and your grandchildren do love you everyday
    And even though we can't be there to help you celebrate
    We are sending hugs and kisses your way, everyday
    We are sending hugs and kisses your way
    
    And since you are such wonderful and loving grandparents
    We thought of something else for you, we'll give you a little hint
    It starts out small then grows and grows and you'll get it in May
    Oh another grandbaby's on the way, hey hey hey!
    Oh another grandbaby is on the way!
    
    

    oh - one more line to the anniversary riddle:
    
    Your anniversary present
    is something special, can you guess?
    We couldn't send it thru the mail
    couldn't send it UPS

    You can also use a pregnancy as a way of putting together
    a present for someone who has everything.
    
    It was always a struggle to figure out what to get my dad
    for Christmas, birthday, etc.  But when Nancy was pregnant
    with our (first and only) child we took full advantage
    of the situation at Christmas.
    
    What we did is put together a gift in which the giver was
    our unborn child who just happened to be able to write
    a Christmas letter.  It started something like
    
    Dear Grandpa,
    I can hardly wait to meet you, after I figure out whether I'm
    a boy or a girl, etc, etc....
    
    The Christmas letter included "a picture of me, although
    it's a bit hard to see..." (an ultrasound picture).  Nancy
    also got a picture of herself sitting on Santa's knee,
    and we included that with appropriate comments, etc.
    
    My dad really loved it, and it was the kind of thing you
    don't get to do all the time.
    
    Rich

    How about a T-Shirt with the first grandchild's handprints and then
    little pink & blue dots with a ? and the words "...and expecting".

    Geez, you guys are really creative!  I just phoned/wrote people,
    nothing fancy...
    
    Unimaginatively yours,
    Kate

    
    This one was fun and also funny:
    
    A friend's wife couldn't think of a good way to tell her husband she
    was expecting their second.  At the time he was looking for a new
    job, so we took his resume and retyped it.  We added a small sentence
    under the "personal" section at the very end:
    
    ....and loving father to his two children.
    
    When he proof read the reformatted resume - his wife said he nearly
    fell over in his chair!
    

    We played a game of Sherades with the entire the family (3 teams
    parents, brothers family, sisters family).  Our sherade was 
    "We are having a baby".  It was a real thrill when the excitement of
    getting the statement is a double wave, first they are excited they got
    the statement and 1 second later they realize it means something and
    the eyes bulge out. 
    

    I, too, did nothing particularly creative.  Since it had been 6.5 years
    since my first child's birth, and I'd always sworn one was quite
    enough, the surprise was quite big enough without springing it on
    anyone in a creative way.
    
    Indeed, I told my best friend, a fellow Digit, on our way out of the
    office for a walk one day.  She was just opening the outer door, and
    had to hold it for support, as her knees buckled in shock!  (true
    story, really!)
    
    M.