A few of you have expressed interest in knowing the details of how it happened since I didn’t say anything on the first blog entry.  To keep this PG, unfortunately for all of you I am going to have to skip the best part of how the baby happened. 

I’ll start from that Sunday afternoon when I went to practice with my dedicated soccer team.  When I returned home as soon as I was turning the knob in the front door, Monica semi opened the door and told me to close my eyes.  “Nice!” I thought to myself.  “I just gotta take a quick shower and I am ready to roll.”  She held my hand and guided me into our bedroom.  I stepped into our love room and I could distinctly smell the roses she had placed all around.   I was ready to open my eyes and put some love music, you know? Some “Let’s get it on” by Marvin Gaye, some R&B, some “Your body is calling me” by R. Kelly, you know, some of that good stuff.  I was smirking, grinning like a teenager about to get some action, thinking, “Man, I must have done something good!”  I could feel my body temperature rising.  But nope, forget about it, I opened my eyes and the first thing I see is a basket full with a stork, baby paraphernalia,  a handmade card, a champagne bottle, 2 Cigars and the golden glow of some twenty candles that did not match Monica’s smile as she told me “We are pregnant!”   My reaction? You can read it here.

Delivering the Baby News

Some have asked how the family reacted.  Well, I got it all on tape, but have little to no time to upload it to my laptop and embed it here.  So, I’ll just tell you this:  This baby is going to be the first grandchild, first newphew/niece, first born of the new generation on both sides of the family!  So they were very excited.   We told my mother about 30 minutes after I found out.  We got in the car, took our wedding flutes (which we didn’t use for our wedding because we forgot them at home, but this was the perfect opportunity to use them and celebrate), the champagne bottle and headed off a mission.  When I got to my mother’s, I gathered my brothers and her, and told them that I had brought her a present.  Then I brought out the box in which the flutes were stored and opened them saying “You are going to be a grandma!  Monica is pregnant!”  But there were no expression on their faces, they looked at me like, nope, only a blank stares watching me.  I had played that joke on my mother so many times that when it was true, she didn’t believe me.  Until her and my two brothers looked at Monica for confirmation.  Monica nodded with a smile.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!”

In a true Downs family fashion, my mother was celebrating by screaming.  She was so excited I had to fan her to give her air.  My brothers were jumping and screaming.  It was truly a great time.  Alvin and Richard kept telling me that they still couldn’t believe that they were going to be uncles.  They thought that I was going to be 40 and still no offspring.  But I told them that there was no way that was going to happen, I am not that greedy, I have to share the handsome specimen of Latino Male that I am, with and for the benefit of the world.  I have to ensure that the next generation looks good.  You know?  hehe.   Anyways, I busted out the champagne bottle and celebrated that the Downs Clan is getting bigger!

The Downs Family

We then hurried back to the car to continue on our mission.  Next target:  Mr. and Mrs. Brown, pastor and mentors.  They live only 7 minutes away from my mother’s so we were there quick.  We got out of the car, champagne and flutes in hand, and got straight to serving.  “Oh my, this must be big news” Jerry said as I served.  “You’re going to be grandparents!” I said.  They were super excited!  We toasted and soon were praying for the baby and Monica.

After we left the Brown’s we called Carolina, Monica’s sister and shared the great news with her.  Naturally, she was also very excited.  Soon we were knocking at the door of the in-laws.  Monica was nervous.  She didn’t know how to tell her family.  I kep telling her to just say it without giving any sort of hint or introduction.  “I’ve got something to tell you…” she started.  As soon as she said that, her mom knew.  “I am pregnant.”  Her mother and father had a big smile and immediately hugged her.  Her mom was teary.  Victor, her little brother congratulated us and we all hugged.  And then Mariana came and before any congratulatory words, the first thing out of her mouth was:

You’re going to get fat!
–Mariana

The Burgos Family