more baby gifts!

Tuesday night we went out for pizza with hubby's grandma, a little tradition we have. There is this amazing local pizza place that we love, and they have a deal where you can get larges for the price of a small Monday-Wednesday. Well Monday is 24 night and Wednesday we typically have small group, so about once a month Tuesday's have become pizza night with Grandma - the only grandparent we have left between the two of us.

Well this week she had a little surprise for us. After sharing our baby news with her a week ago, she informed me that she now had some shopping to do! Well here are the results:

Then last night hubby's aunt came over with a little gift for us as well. And would you believe she had picked out the exact same sleeper that grandma did? The one directly above, with the zoo animals. We now have it in newborn size and 3-6 months! She also got us this adorable blanket and a daily calendar that tells us what baby is doing every day.

It is so fun that our families are as excited as we are! We are feeling very blessed to be surrounded by so much love and support!

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happy Easter!

Clearly my stomach had taken over my brain yesterday, as I forgot to wish everyone a Happy Easter! We had a wonderful weekend with family. Friday night we watched an amazing Good Friday service online from the Passion City Church, with Louie Giglio and Chris Tomlin.

Saturday I was up at 7am to wait in line, in the cold and pregnant, with hubby so he could be sure to be one of the first to get an Apple iPad. Before you think I deserve the wife of the year award, let me reassure you that he took my shoe shopping after. I've been saving my birthday money for a pair of jeans, but now that I'm pregnant it doesn't seem like the most practical way to spend my money. So I opted for a new pair of Nike athletic shoes instead. And I'm very much in love. I always like it when the cute ones also end up being the ones that fit be best too!

Sunday we went to church, had brunch with hubby's family, and then went out to the lake to open the cabin. It was such a beautiful day, we immediately pulled out the patio chairs and sat in the sun on the deck. It was glorious! Makes me so anxious for summer!

Keeping our little secret is becoming more and more challenging. At brunch hubby was serving coffee to everyone, and I of course did not have any (even though I would have really liked too!) Hubby's grandma, not missing a beat, asked if I wasn't much of a coffee drinker. Before I could even get a word out, my hubby's dad, mom and sister all said at once "no not really." She just said ok, and moved on. We all exchanged looks and silently laughed at our little secret!

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telling our family: part 2

We live in the same town as my in-laws, so telling them should have been much easier to arrange. Except of course for the weekend we found out, both hubby's parents were at their condo down south. And his sister was traveling for work. And his youngest sister was down with her parents at the condo. And his oldest sister was three hours away, well because that's where they live. :)

Both of our families are very close, but hubby's in particular has a very hard time keeping secrets. So we really wanted to tell them all at once if possible. However, his mom won't be home until Easter ... and there is NO WAY I could wait that long to tell them!

So last Tuesday (the day after we told my family), hubby's middle sister came over to watch 24 with us. Now this particular sister is actually the reason I'm even part of the family. See we were on the same freshman floor at college, and were very good friends all throughout college. It wasn't until the end of our junior year that her brother and I finally noticed each other! So we wanted to tell her first. But before I even finished my warning about not telling anyone, she blurted out "are you pregnant!?" haha, I guess she saw it coming.

The following weekend hubby's dad came home, and his older sister was coming for a visit with her two kids. So though we desperately wanted to tell them all in person, we came the the realization that we were going to have to find another way. Well we live in an area prone to spring flooding, and this happened to be the weekend the river was going to crest, so hubby helped his mom set up skype on her computer in order to give her 'flood updates.'

So Friday night we sat everyone down and got hubby's mom and youngest sister on skype. Once hubby shared the news both his mom and little sister just screamed into the computer! (And apparently they had their suspicions, they didn't believe the rues of needing skype for 'flood updates.' Oh well, we tried!) His dad, who was sitting right next to us, was uncharacteristically silent. I think he may have been a little stunned!

Once everyone calmed down, hubby's mom told his middle sister to run up to her closet. And she came down with these:

 

One for a boy and one for a girl. Apparently she's been waiting ...

Later hubby's oldest sister arrived. We all sat down for dinner, and as we were passing the food, hubby nonchalantly informed her that we were having a baby. I have never heard anyone scream louder or more intensely then she did at that moment. Her poor kids had no idea what was happening to mommy! She jumped out of her seat and did a little dance than then gave us both hugs. I guess she's a little excited for us to know what it's like to be a parent. :)

It is so fun to be able to share this with our families. I think I'd be going crazy if we weren't telling anyone. I just want to run out and announce it to all our friends. But I think we are planning on waiting at least until our first doctor visit on April 13th. I just can't wait! That still seems so far away.

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telling our family: part 1

I already told you about the Saturday morning I got the first positive hpt, and how I told hubby about it in disbelief. What I didn't tell you is that my brother (recently home from Iraq) and his girlfriend were visiting for the weekend!

When we came out of our bedroom that morning to find them both sitting in the living room, we thought for sure they must have heard what we were talking about. We even brought it up later, because we just had to know! That of course made them really curious (they told us later they figured we were either talking dirty or talking about them! ha)

I was happy excited elated ... words can't really express what I was feeling that morning! I wanted to announce it from the roof tops! But we were still so unsure. One of the hardest things I've ever had to do was hide my excitement from my brother that day. Hubby and I would sneak looks and silly grins to each other, but we weren't free to celebrate our news in the open.

Well Sunday we got a little reassurance that it was real with a second positive hpt, but I still hadn't missed AF so I still wasn't sure. So we decided to keep it to ourselves a little longer. Just until we knew for sure.

Monday was my brother's birthday and my whole family was planning on meeting in a nearby town for a birthday dinner. Originally hubby and I didn't plan on going. We didn't really think the 2 1/2 hour drive was necessary on a week night, since we'd spent the whole weekend with him.

But then I called to set up a doctor appointment Monday after work, and they didn't need to see me until I was 8 weeks along. EIGHT WEEKS! There was no way I was waiting that long to tell anyone! And I didn't know when I would get the next opportunity to have my whole family together.

So we made a spur of the moment decision. We were going to meet my family for dinner. We decided that even if something happened, we wanted our families to be a part of it.

We are used to crazy last minute car trips, but that 2 1/2 hour drive felt like 10 hours! I thought we would never get there. But we did, and we had a great dinner with my family. Except I had butterflies in my stomach through the entire meal because I was so excited/nervous to tell them! And then I couldn't do it! So I gave hubby the look, and he stepped in to rescue me.

"Well bro, happy birthday, you're going to be an uncle!"

There was silence for a second - but only a split second - while it sunk in to everyone. Then there was excitement, and big smiles, and congratulations, and lots of questions. Both of my brothers jumped up to come give us hugs. I thought my mom might cry for a second, she was so happy.

The long drive was so worth it.

****

Stay tuned, part 2 is tomorrow: telling hubby's family

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