the real excitement has finally begun… making the news public!  we started with my family.  we drove down Thursday night (which was dubious to the last minute thanks to many bridges and roads being shut down because of ice… i10 opened literally thirty minutes before we wanted to leave) but didn’t get together with my dad and sissy until Saturday.  we got everyone together under the pretense of doing a family gathering in lieu of our family Disney day since dad wasn’t up to going to the parks.  it turned out to be a nice birthday party for me too when they surprised me with a fabulous carvel cake (is there any other kind?!).  this also presented us with the perfect opportunity for our reveal since the cake was frozen solid and we had to let it thaw a bit before I could cut it.  I told them I had something for them too.  I apologized for being late for Christmas but that it took a really long time to make.  I gave my sissy the announcement card that I had lovingly made and I gave my dad a gift bag with a framed pic of the sonogram.  this is the moment where my sissy has figured it out and my dad is still trying to figure out what the heck that picture is.  the whole family was thrilled and hubby and I were super excited to be making this “real”.  I told my niece that we were going to take her home with us to be our live-in nanny.  she didn’t seem to object.  we’ve got a few more announcements to make while we’re here this week – my cousin and my best friends (I actually ran into one of them today after church while looking at model homes with sissy’s family.  haven’t seen her in six years and in she walks while my sissy and I were testing the sofa in a rather nice living room.)- and then we’ll head to Alabama and go through all the fun again with hubby’s family.