No more secrets!

Happy New Year!

So, as you know, I am a bartender at a Curling Club. On December 21st we had, instead of regular Friday night curling, a sort of Holiday party/Potluck event. I have been thwarting the kids' begging me to come to my work for weeks now, mostly out of worry that it goes until Midnight, and them being tired/fussy and with me being there with our only car, there would be no "out", etc if someone freaked out. But for the party, I decided to bring Greta with me. She was SO excited!

We got there and she sat at the bar and had a pepsi with maraschino cherries in it while I set everything up-- lots of opening of fridges, setting up drinks, turning on the keg, prepping the kitchen/pantry, putting out all of the things on the bar, making the popcorn, etc. She brought paper and pen and did some of her drawings. I introduced her to anyone who came by, and they all seemed impressed and charmed by her and she was loving the spotlight ;) as she drew her dragons and goblins and eyeballs and rabbits and cats and people genuinely were asking her "did you draw that??" she was loving it.

Soon some of my real friends there came in, and were smitten with her. They couldnt believe she was TEN and wanted to take her out with them! They were cracking up at her sarcastic/witty observations, but, unlike some of the things she might have done last year to get a laugh, I didnt feel nervous that she would say anything "weird". she has got a good sense of what is outrageous enough to get a laugh but not so over the top as to put people off (a skill many adults do not have a good handle on I must say!)

Soon some of my friends took her away to play a fun board game called "Smarty Party" and that was about the last I saw of her all night! I kept mosey-ing over there to see if she was becoming "this little kid who is wrecking our game" and they were like NO SHE GOT US 5 POINTS DONT TAKE HER AWAY!! I was so proud and she was having a blast.

Now, I had not told anyone at work that I was pregnant yet--first I was just following the rules of etiquette that you dont go around announcing your embryo to any old person, because, lets face it, if you have a miscarriage, aka, "it doesn't work out", then it is all weird when they ask you how its going and you have to not cry and its all weird and sad. Well, that, and I think the timing was totally weird to get pregnant the millisecond I start a new job and wanted them to totally love me before I go busting out big news and possibly special requests, although I do not plan on needing any special requests, some people still do that for pregnant ladies, no carrying out the trash at midnight to the scary dumpster alone, etc.

Well, Greta was chitty chatting away with my three "closest" female friends at the club, and they were asking her "now, you have 2 sisters? 2 brothers?" and she said, "no, no, I have three brothers and Mama is pregnant and I hope it is a girl" and my face turned beet red and they just dropped their jaws and looked at me and I smiled and they all did the classic squealy "OH MY GOSH CONGRATULAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JOY! HOW FAR ALONG ARE YOU OH MY GOSH I WANNA HAVE A BIG FAMILY I AM SO JEALOUS THAT IS SO AWESOME YOU ARE SO LUCKY YOU LOOK SO GREAT BLABLABLABLA"

It was so neat to be that girl, like the ones on TV,where the response is 100% "hooray". I felt like I was in the convertible in the pageant, waving a cupped hand, the pregnant super star, just for once, so cheesy to admit, and so so fun. So Greta dropped the bomb for me, and the response was totally positive. It was actually perfect, as I was expecting Maternity clothes for xmas and they way they are cut, you go from looking a little chubby to very much pregnant, and I was getting to the point where I didnt know how or when to tell them and was stressing about it. I was told that I am not allowed to lift any kegs anymore (I never have had to yet, and they probably weigh less than Casey who I carry many times in the day but I appreciated it still) and was told that gossip spreads fast and that i dont have to worry about telling anyone now! Cool by me, I just wanted it to be out there so I could continue to do my job without carefully planning baggy shirts each night :)

I have been off work for almost 2 weeks and it has been NICE! I have gotten to put my children to bed each night, gotten a major wrangle on the laundry (not a single dirty thing in any hamper, lots of clean to fold) and been cooking nice dinners again, too. (Steve cooked last night, the best spaghetti ever known to humankind) I have been going to sleep around 10, and feeling humanish at 6 am when the first peeper wakes up.

I am happy to go back tonight, but still hate the hours. i am looking forward to seeing everyone and to being no longer concerned about secret-pregnancy. Phew. Greta wants to come back with me sometime soon, but we are trying to get them back on a more normal sleep schedule after the holidays, sickness and odd schedules keeping them up late and having differing wake times and such, it is a burden to have 3,4,5 different breakfast times!

Wish me luck as I start back up at work!