Announcing to the Ilse's

So, the Ilse's are VERY smart people and apparently they are also naturally suspicious.  Eric and I wanted to surprise our families with the good news (which was possible since we had kept our frozen embryo cycle a complete secret) and we first dropped the hint about doing a family lunch while visiting Eric sister Kelly's house this past Monday. Eric just mentioned that he had been craving PF Chang's for a while now and since the nearest one to us was also near to them, maybe they might like to tag along. We were trying to be subtle but then when we also invited Eric's parent to come (who live nowhere near PF Chang's) everyone became suspicious.  You see, we normally go out with one group or the other, but rarely do we exert the effort to bring everyone together at once and especially in the wake of the icky stomach bug fiasco, it was difficult to play low key.  Kelly tried to cancel or move the lunch to another day to prevent further spread/re-infection but Eric insisted he still wanted to do it as planned.  At this point, I think everyone was expecting some kind of special announcement.  To try to throw them off the scent, and since I had had a job interview a week ago Thursday, Eric and I decided we would start off by telling everyone I got a new job.  When they asked questions I would say it was in home care, not the job I had actually interviewed for, and that it would start in 9 months. 

The day arrives and we do the script exactly as planned...and everyone seems a little less smart because they all stare at us blankly (except Kelly who smiles broadly right away).  We then give Eric's parents the gift we had planned (onesies with a ribbon saying "Baby Ilse Due October 1st, 2013) and they eventually catch on.  Mark wins the slowest to get there award because even after he figures out there is a baby he says "Wow, that is really nice of your new job to wait to let you start until after maternity leave!".  After that there was general congratulations and a good lunch was enjoyed by all.



The group at lunch

The surprise as boxed



Grandpa and Grandma Ilse with their onesies.  Grandpa's says "Grandpa's next project" and shows a little girl holding up her dress looking at her diaper (Grandpa is OFTEN doing project's at our house so this was good for him).  Grandma loves puzzles so hers shows a baby picture with a few puzzle pieces missing and says "It's no puzzle why Grandma loves me"