Catch-Up

This post is a catch-up post of the major events in our lives this past year.

On the last day of school, June 2, 2011 I took a pregnancy test, and to my shock and surprise, it was positive! I honestly took the test simply to get the idea of being pregnant out of my head. Because of some blood work I had taken earlier in the month, my mind knew it wasn't possible, but other signs were trying to tell me "just maybe..." I immediately woke up Steven, who was also equally as surprised and thrilled! I went on with my last day of school like usual, but in the back of my head, I kept thinking, "Is this for real?!" I had a staff development day the next day, finished packing my classroom away for the summer, so there was little time to think about the words, "Pregnant." When I got home from school on June 3, I took another pregnancy test (same brand) and it was still saying "Pregnant." (It literally said the word. I had bought the digital kind because I didn't want to have to figure out if I was seeing two lines or one. I wanted something simple.) I did however call the doctor on Thursday to try and schedule and appointment. Since I HAD to be at school for the last day and the doctor's office closes early on Fridays, I couldn't get an appointment that week. Steven and I were out of town the next week, and then the next week my doctor was completely booked because she had been out of town and was playing catch up. We finally scheduled our first appointment for Thursday, June 23.

Steven and I then left on Sunday, June 5 to go on the high school mission trip to Washington, D.C. I was tired this week, but still wasn't sure if it was due to pregnancy or simply the miles of walking we did each day. I left the trip a few days early so that I could be in a friend's wedding. The week after the wedding, I had a few staff development workshops and Steven was super busy getting ready for middle school camp. I did take another pregnancy test on June 17 (a different brand), and it still showed up positive. I was beginning to think that by a miracle, I truly was pregnant. Steven left for middle school camp the following week, June 19-24, but he was able to sneak away for our doctor's appointment on the 23rd. We still hadn't told a single soul. We wanted to get to the doctor first to make sure it was for real. My appointment at the doctor's office was equally nerve-wracking and thrilling at the same time. Although I had tried not getting my hopes up too much, it was hard to keep myself from thinking about when our baby may be born. Well...Dr. Hampton gave us our first sneak at our little gummy bear, and there it was, wiggling around with strong heartbeat! On one hand, it was so surreal that I was actually pregnant, but on the other hand it seemed so natural to see my little peanut on the screen. I had thought I was 10 weeks at this point, but the gummy bear was measuring right at 9 weeks, so my due date was set for January 26, 2012. Steven had to return to middle school camp for one more night, but we made plans to tell the family the next day. (I had already been plotting the way to surprise them all).

On Friday afternoon, Steven and I went to my parents' house. I think we made up some type of excuse about wanting to give them a little happy before their trip to Alabama. (Not to sure on these details.) Anyways, I had found someone on Etsy to make a t-shirt for my mom that said, "Granna's Fab Five." On the shirt were 4 little kids that looked like Jacob, Julianne, Latham, and Addyson with their names listed. In the middle was a gender neutral looking baby with the name "Baby Miori" underneath it. We gave my dad a Mercer Mayer book called "Grandma, Grandpa, and Me." We wrote a little note from the baby about how excited he/she was to get to one day spend time with Granna and Pops. My mom of course cried, and both of them were so excited for us. Neither one could believe how far along I was and that we were just then telling them. :) Next stop was Steven's parents' house. His brother was still in town, so we were able to say we had a late birthday gift for him (which was true). Instead of giving Michael a typical birthday card, we gave him an "uncle" card. I had found two different grand-parenting books (per Focus on the Family's recommendations) to give to Louis and Michelle. We told them that they were little happies for our Colorado trip that we would soon be taking. The plan was for all 3 of them to open them at the same time. However, Michelle, being her typical selfless self, tried waiting for everyone else to go first. :) Louis and Michael immediately caught on what was happening, but it took a second for Michelle to catch on that the grand-parenting book was for her! To say they were excited would be an understatement! We then texted Jenn (she was on the road for a music tour) a picture that said, "Aunt Jenn's #1 Fan. Debuting January 2012." She couldn't believe it either. We still had two more stops, my brother and sister's house. I had made each of them a calendar of 2012, but starting with December and leading to January. Each month said whose birthday it was and how old that person/child would be. The last line was January 2012-Baby Miori is born! Kristen, knowing what this was, immediately took the cover off the calendar to read the bottom. I think she screamed. Justin was excited but tried not to show it too much. :) Jaime and Nick couldn't believe it. Jaime was glad that we would be having a January baby since no one in our family has a birthday in this month. (Jaime and I always joke around that we need to have babies in these few months so that we can have a birthday and family get together every month.) January wasn't necessarily planned, but I was also excited that I had done my "duty." It was such a special time, telling each family member this life-changing news. There had been times that I wondered if I would ever get to share this joy with them, so I was beyond grateful to be able to share this with each one of them. We made all of the swear to secrecy because we didn't want the world knowing until I made it through my first trimester.

My first trimester came and went effortlessly. I had absolutely no sickness. Looking back, I was exhausted, but thankfully, it was during the summer so I could take a nap when I wanted to.

Stay tuned for the details of the gender reveal party. :)