Our oldest son and his wife are having a baby! I’m so excited for them. We found out in a fun way a few weeks ago. My son called me from out of state and let me know that a belated Christmas present was coming and that they wanted to Facetime with us when we opened it. A few days later, it arrived at our business. We got my son and his wife on Facetime then opened the envelope. I saw a picture envelope. They know I love to get pictures of them so was delighted. When I opened the envelope though, I pulled out a grainy, black and white fuzzy sonagram picture. At that point I knew exactly what it was. I think I shrieked. I’m still feeling a bit giddy.

My daughter-in-law is just going into her third month now and feeling healthy. My son wants a boy and she wants a girl. This is the point at which I say that there has not been a girl in the direct family line for over a hundred years. That’s right. In fact, by now I think it is closer to a hundred and thirty years. Of course, since we have three boys, any of them could break that pattern and who knows, this could be the one. I really don’t care though…a healthy baby will be just perfect, whether a boy or girl.

It’s brought back to mind the early days of bringing our son home from the hospital, when we really had no clue how to be parents. I remember being up in the night, about a week after coming home from the hospital and trying to get him to go back to sleep after a feeding. I was exhausted and frankly, feeling rather sorry for myself. I remember thinking, “What have I gotten myself into?” But of course, as time went on, I realized I would live through the sleep deprivation and went on to have two more babies, all boys of course. We used joke that we had to ship the girls in as that was the only way we were going to have any girls; one from Korea and then one from China.

Babies are wonderful, whether from the womb or from adoption, whether a boy or a girl. A new life is a celebration, and we are rejoicing with this young couple. Hopefully by the time the baby is born, the worst effects of the pandemic will be over, and we can think only about traveling to see the new baby without all the concern about safe traveling that we have now.

Yay, I get to be a Nana again…