Doctor tomorrow!

I am so excited for my 13 week check up with my ob/gyn tomorrow! A lot has changed since my last appointment so I can’t wait to get to ask her questions…like, “Can you show me where my uterus is?!” We keep lightly pushing on my belly but I sure can’t tell what is what! I’m not even sure what else she is going to do at this appointment, but I’ll let you know! My appointment isn’t until 2:50, so I will post about it on Thursday some time, my last full day of work before vacation! :-D

Tomorrow's post...the 13 week update..tune in tomorrow for the food of the week!!!

Happy, happy news!

My cousin Ronda and her hubby Gregg have been trying to adopt for some time now. WELL…last week they were chosen by a birthmother, Tiffanni, and she intends on making them the adoptive parents! They met with her early last week and she was induced on Friday. Things did not go as planned and the baby wasn’t ready to come yet, so they sent Tiffanni home. She returned to the hospital yesterday and the baby came this morning at 5:10 a.m. A healthy 7 pound 2 ounce, 19.25 inch, baby GIRL! They were on their way to the hospital this morning to spend time with the little baby girl and are even going to get to take care of her over night! There is still a small chance Tiffanni will change her mind, so please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers. Hopefully this one will come through for them…it’s been a long time coming. An early CONGRATS to Ronda and Gregg!

Chinese Birth Calendar

I found this on another baby blog...it's a Chinese Birth Calendar that is supposedly very accurate in predicting the sex of your baby based on the mother's age when she will deliver and the month in which the baby was conceived.

SO...according to this chart my gut feeling is right...we're going to have a boy! (Cuz I'm sure this thing is 100% accurate, right?!)

Bellies

Jodi’s baby shower was a blast on Saturday! It was good seeing family that I haven’t seen in a while and we had a lot of fun getting to see Jodi’s belly! Little Aiden Isaiah is growing fast…only 10 more weeks for them. She has such a little frame it looks like she has a basketball under her shirt…it’s just adorable! I keep trying to picture what I will look like 3 or 4 months from now, but I just have no idea what to expect!

I heard from Kim, Josh’s cousin Zach’s wife, and she is less than 4 weeks away from her due date...they are having a little girl! She has been getting kicked a lot, which she says hurts but also reminds her that Kadence is strong and healthy! That’s a good way to look at it! Kim is also another one with a tiny frame and a big baby belly. Also adorable! But she looks totally different than Jodi does because of the way she’s carrying. I think I can tell the difference between the way a boy or a girl is carried…Maybe?!

Josh did our taxes last night and found out we are getting enough back to pay off the rest of my car (YES!) and have about $900 left over to save/prepare for the move. And the way my work pants feel today, I think a chunk of it will be going to maternity clothes. My pants are getting tighter! I wore these last week once and so when I put them on this morning they should be a little baggy, right?! WRONG! Getting a little uncomfy! Yes, I know, just a week ago today I was bragging about how I still had room! After my discovery I jumped on the scale and, to my relief, it’s still the same! I’m hoping we can run to Fashion Bug some time this week to get some pants. This week will be busy (Getting ready for our trip to AZ!) so we’ll have to see. I’ll definitely update if I come across some good finds!

On my way...

I'm leaving in 1/2 an hour to go to WI for the weekend. Tomorrow is my cousin Jodi's baby shower...she's due April 7th! Lots of new little babies on that side of the family.

Nothing else is really going on...other than another bloody nose today! WAHOO! :-)

I'm 12 Weeks Today!!

I can’t believe how fast the time has gone. It seems like just yesterday we were at our first doctor appointment, learning that I’d be at the end of my first trimester by the time we went to Arizona on February 3rd. Next Wednesday, February 1st, will be my first day of the second trimester! Please pray for no more morning sickness! (HOPEFULLY!!)

The comparison food of the week?! A LIME! The baby is now 2 inches long and weighs .5 oz! BabyCenter said his/her ears are now in their final positions on the head and the eyes (which started on the sides of the head!) have now moved closer together on his/her face. The intestines are moving into the abdominal cavity (from the umbilical cord!) and the kidneys are secreting urine into the bladder! The coolest part is they said the baby is getting better reflexes now so he/she will move if we push on my abdomen! But I won’t be able to feel it for another month or so though.

I think I’ve already started to get a little 2nd trimester heartburn! OH JOY! I’m taking Zantac and I’m STILL getting it! Monday I had half of a spicy chicken sandwich and couldn’t eat any more cuz I had terrible heart burn! And it happened again last night when we ate pizza, so here we go I guess! :-)

I’m still finding a few (not many!) food aversions. Tuesday night Josh made grilled cheese sandwiches and baked beans to go with it. I had a few bites of the beans and couldn’t eat them because I almost threw up! Guess I’ll add that to my list of things to avoid along with eggs!

Another side effect I’ve been dealing with is a stuffy nose during the night and in the morning. I washed all of our pillows, sheets, etc. and I was still miserable this morning, so I decided I’ll just have to deal with it! The worst part isn’t waking up with my tongue stuck to the roof of my terribly dry mouth cuz I can’t breathe out of my nose…it’s that when I get up I have a lot of drainage in the back of my throat that makes me gag! It’s been a while (that I can remember) that it actually made me throw up, so I can deal with it! I’ve also had about 3 bloody noses, which I read can also be a side effect of pregnancy. Or our dry house, so who knows!

OH WELL! I keep telling myself it could definitely be worse! And will all be worth it in the end!!!!!

Back in Action!

My week 11 update is a little late since I was sick last week, but here it is! The baby is now the size of a fig (on the left!), about 1.5 inches long and weighing .25 oz. He/she has started to move around a little bit and may even start getting the hiccups! Lucky for me babycenter said I won’t be able to feel them until 16-20 weeks!

Looking ahead to the future, I’ll be 12 weeks in just two days! (Wednesday) I’m happy to report that weight has stayed the same since my last doctor appointment on January 9th and I still have about an inch of growing room in my pants! My belly seems to have grown a tiny bit, just enough to make me start thinking about maternity clothes and worrying about where I’ll find them in plus sizes. I did some quick looking this morning and found that Fashion Bug carries a narrow selection of plus size maternity clothing online and in certain stores. (Lane Bryant advertises maternity, and then directed me to the Fashion Bug website!) Two of the stores listed were in Elk River, MN (about 30 miles from Twin Cities) and in Rhinelander, WI. Both are definitely places I can get to, so I’m happy with that! I also picked up some lounge pants that were on clearance at Walmart this weekend. I got them a size too big and they have a drawstring on them, so we’ll see how/if they work!

By the time we leave for AZ on February 3, I’ll be into my 13th week, almost in the clear for my morning sickness. Hopefully! I’m hoping to be able to stop taking the Unisom and still be able to get out of bed in the morning! I’d like to be one of the lucky women that has morning sickness stop dead in its tracks for the 2nd trimester! I really don’t want to be sick on vacation! Or on the plane for that matter, which I’m a little nervous about. We’re flying out of Minneapolis in the evening and flying back I the evening, so I should be feeling pretty good. But I can’t take my Dramamine and the last time I flew without it I ended up handing my puke bag to the flight attendant as we got off the plane! On Saturday during our little outing Josh and I went to the local drug store and picked up some motion sickness bracelets. We’ll see how that goes! I’ve heard some good things so I hope they work for me!

Pic of work announcements...finally!

I shared at the beginning of this month that I announced my pregnancy at work by giving everyone a little announcement...here it is! I thought they were so cute that I had to put up a pic!

Sicky lady again

I spent about 10 minutes throwing up before I left for work this morning. It's been a while since that happened, so I hope it's not starting up all over again. I don't feel very good right now either so I think I'm going to go home and rest tonight.

FYI - I sent for a copy of my lab results today so I can find out what exactly they tested. I want to be informed!

Testing, Testing

Just got off the phone with Blue Cross Blue Sheild, my insurance company. I was supposed to call them before my next appointment (February 1st) to see if the genetic testing for cystic fibrosis is covered by them. I was just told that it is not. I guess that's all I can do because we are not paying $450 to have it done. It scares me a little bit because a good family friend has a daughter that was born with it and neither family knew they were carriers of the CF gene. It's hard for them, but they are doing well. So I know it's possible to make it work if something does happen. They were an inspiration to have the testing done, but also are an inspiration to cope with whatever comes our way.

However, on the plus side, I did find out that the test for downs syndrome, MSAFP, is covered. I think they will be doing that one soon. I'll have to look at my literature from the doctor's office tonight.

Also, I had a message on our answering machine on Friday from my doctor's office saying that all of my recent lab work came back normal and looks good! YAY! I know they tested my pee cuz I had to do a 24 urine sample (FUN!) to make sure my kidney function is up to par (because of my prehypertension). I'm pretty sure she tested my iron and calcium levels too. I wonder why they don't send those good old post cards like they used to! LoL...cuz I don't even know what else they tested! I'm just glad it's all normal!

I’m 10 Weeks today!

Here’s a little info I found on BabyCenter about what our little one is up to this week! I think it’s funny how they refer to the baby as a girl! The info is really interesting!

How your baby's growing: Your baby is no longer an embryo! Though she's barely the size of a kumquat — just an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, she now has completed the most critical portion of her development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in her body rapidly grow and mature. Her vital organs — the liver, kidney, intestines, brain, and lungs — are now in place and starting to function (although they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy). Her liver continues to make blood cells, and the yolk sac, which previously supplied these cells, is no longer needed and begins to disappear.

During the next three weeks, your baby's length will more than double to nearly 3 inches. Her head is proportionately smaller now than it was a few weeks ago, but it's still almost half the length of her entire body. Her forehead temporarily bulges with her developing brain and sits high on her head; it will later recede to give her a more human appearance. So the baby still looks like a little alien! Each day, more minute details — including tiny fingernails, toenails, and peach-fuzz hair — start to appear on her body. Her fingers are now completely separated; her arms bend at the elbow and curve slightly; her hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over her heart; her legs are lengthening; and her feet may be long enough to meet in front of her body. She is busily swallowing amniotic fluid and kicking her legs. I can't wait to feel those kicks!

If you could take a peek at your baby this week, you'd be able to clearly see the outline of her spine through her parchment-thin skin. Spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from her spinal cord.

* Note: Experts say every baby develops differently — even in the womb. This developmental information is designed to give you a general idea of how your baby is growing.

How your life's changing: Your uterus has doubled in size by now. Before you got pregnant, it was the size of a small pear. By this week, it's grown to the size of a grapefruit. We can kinda feel it now through my layers of “polar lining.” :-)

It’s exciting how much is changing so rapidly now that I’m getting closer to the end of my first trimester! Also, my morning sickness is all but gone by taking the unisom and B6 and I’m feeling great! It’s nice to be able to think about what I want to eat and actually be able to eat it! (Instead of gagging at the thought of any food!) I still have bouts with fatigue, but nothing that sticks with me too long. I’ve decided that being pregnant isn’t so bad after all! :-)

A Birthday Party?!

I'm listening to the Today Show on my tv band radio at work right now. (I love that thing...it's great entertainment to get me through the work day.)

So anyway, they're talking about birthday parties, as in ON THE DAY OF THE BIRTH! Inviting family and friends into the delivery room as you give birth to your child! The kid comes out and everyone bursts into song, "Happy birthday dear baby..."

Are these people for real?! I can't even believe this! Not for a minute would I even consider having my own parents in the room, let alone my uncle Bob and friend Jane. I think that is a private time for the mother and father to see their baby for the first time and bond. And what if there is a complication? The nurses have to take precious seconds to clear the party hats and birthday cake out of the room? I'm puzzled as to why anyone would want to see that anyway! I know, it's a beautiful miracle of life, but that's ME the kid is coming out of and I'd like to keep that to myself and my hubby, thank you very much!

Wow!

Yesterday was so much fun! It was great sharing our pictures with family and friends. Everyone had such nice things to say and advice to give. I love everyone so much and appreciate them all in our lives. I thought about posting everyone's replies, but we decided to keep them to ourselves. Thank you all for your kinds words!

I will say that Ashlee emailed me this morning and said that Greg (Josh's dad) printed and stapled the ultrasound picture to their bulletin board! Awww!

Our first ultrasound!

Josh and I had our first ultrasound yesterday afternoon! It was SO AMAZING! I'm 9 weeks now so we weren't sure what would show up since the baby is still so little. (About the size of a small grape! Teeheehee!) But because it was a pelvic ultrasound we could see everything! His/her little head, arms and legs! It was INCREDIBLE when the a little human showed up on the monitor...made it very real! I, of course, shed a few tears! We were able to hear the heart beat, which was 178, and were even able to see it beating on the monitor. It sounded like a really fast whooshing sound and looked like a little wavy area in his/her chest. Hahaha...I keep typing his/her, but I feel, for some reason, that it's a boy. Hopefully we can find that out in the beginning of April! Oh, I also have borderline high blood pressure so after our ultrasound at 20 weeks I will be having one every 6 weeks to monitor the baby. The doctor said we shouldn't worry because people in my situation usually have no problems.

Here is one of the pictures!!! (I'm pointing at the head.) From there you can see a little arm and can kinda see legs! The doctor and ultrasound tech said everything looks normal and healthy. By the measurements the baby is growing the way it is supposed to and is 9 weeks old. The computer calculations changed my due date from August 11 to August 9, 2006. Fine by me! :-)

So, I was finally able to tell my coworkers our news today! We made miniature onesies that I stamped “Baby” on the front of. On the inside I wrote, “The P-------’s are expecting! Baby is due August 9, 2006!” They were all very excited. No one guessed like I thought they would! I figured everyone was on to me cuz I was sick...but then again there were a few other people were sick at the same time, so they didn't catch on! The only person that was on to me was Judy because she busted me one day at the book store in the “Pregnancy and Parenting” section and I panicked! It was a lot of fun sharing our news and knowing I don’t have to keep a secret anymore!

I can’t stop looking at the ultrasound pictures!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS SO REAL NOW! I'M SO HAPPY!

January 4, 2006

The day is finally here!! We’re going for our first ultrasound today at 2:50! I’m SO excited and nervous all at the same time. Today we will find out if the baby is growing well, what the exact due date is, and if there is anything to be concerned about. Josh is so cute…when he woke me up this morning he was talking to my belly saying, “Good morning baby! Guess what?! We get to see you today!” I just love him!

I pray that we will be celebrating later tonight with pictures of our little baby boy or girl!

December 27-30, 2005

December 27, 2005

We had a fantastic Christmas at home! We got a video camera, dvd recorder and a portable ice shack (lucky me!) from my parents, camping chairs along with scrapping stuff from Josh’s mom and a fondue pot (I’m so excited!) from Josh’s dad! We’re so spoiled! It was so great, as usual, to see family, but even more special this year with our news! We saw most of our family that we had called to tell our news and even others we weren’t able to tell ourselves, so that was fun too. I'm pretty sure that all of our family knows now!

I have a little something planned to tell everyone at work, but that will be next Thursday after our ultrasound on Wednesday, so we know everything is ok. Mindy and Katie know b/c I was feeling so bad when we were doing the Christmas stuff and Sharon guessed and I couldn't lie! And Teri…she finally decided to check out June’s blog…just in time to see the post congratulating us! Great timing, huh?! After our first ultrasound, when we hopefully see that everything is ok, I'll tell the rest of the office.

December 29, 2005

Feeling terrible again...was even getting car sick driving. HOW AM I GOING TO GET THROUGH THIS??!

I've been eating Cheerios before I get out of bed...I even tried getting up earlier today so I could eat and be able to take my time getting ready. Didn’t work!! I threw up at home and when I got to work. I called and left a message for a nurse at the doctor’s office. They called back so fast and had so many answers! No more prenatal vitamins until February …I get to take Flinstone’s instead!! She also said to take a Unisom and vitamin B6 before bed. Unisom is a sleep aid and apparently helps with nausea. I can also take Emetrol during the day, which she said is a liquid, but I think I’ll hold off on that until I know how the Unisom and B6 works. Sounds to me like Josh gets to go shopping tonight. As of right now I'm leaving at noon, I can't eat and keep throwing up.

December 30, 2005

IT’S UNBELEIVEABLE! I feel GREAT this morning!! The Unisom and B6 must have worked because I was able to eat this morning and didn’t gag once! I couldn’t be happier!!!! I’ll continue using that until the end of my first trimester, go back on the prenatals and go from there to see how I feel!

WAHOO!!!

December 21-22, 2005

December 21, 2005

I finally got to work at 10:00 this morning...I was puking so bad I said screw it, I'm going back to be to rest. Josh was going to wake me up this morning when he got up so I could eat a few crackers and go back to bed. (A few people including the docs have suggested this to me so I don’t have an empty stomach when I get up.) When I woke up I was so sick I didn't eat anything, just fell back asleep. Then when it was actually time to get up I had bad dry heaves for almost an hour. Blah! There was no way I was going to make it to work on time so I just went back to bed for an hour!

LoL...I just sneezed, had a little tickle in my throat and started coughing. The next thing I knew I was gagging! This is just too weird! :-)

Oh yeah, this week the baby will be roughly the size of a raspberry! Neat, huh?!

December 22, 2005

I’m feeling different today…something is going on in my tummy…something is changing. I don’t know what it is or how to describe it, but I’m feeling amazing today!

Right now, my favorite excuse is, "A woman in my condition..." As in, “A woman in my condition really shouldn’t go get the newspaper.” Teeheehee…but I'm making sure I don't push Josh too far! :-) I do need to remember that I can't get stressed about stuff...and getting stressed is my nature, so that's been pretty hard. I also always try to do everything myself and that has to stop. I'll need to slowly adjust! It's unbelievable how little things change. I’ve adjusted to make sure no one is running a stop light when my light turns green or walking really carefully on snow and ice so I don’t fall! I didn’t think I had a motherly bone in me, but apparently that is developing. I am really scared because I haven't been around babies very much, but these little "motherly" things that are popping up out of nowhere are giving me more confidence that I'll be just fine! :-) Karol and Jerry have a 3 mo. old and when I was holding her she started fussing and I didn't pass her off! I actually stopped her from fussing and rocked her to sleep! :-) That was a big deal for me and felt amazing…and it wasn’t even our kid!

I am hoping the time between now and August flies by!!!!! (I'm sure it will!) We're just so excited!! Josh has already been so good to me and he's being even more considerate now. And I absolutely love this - he talks to the baby already and says good night to him/her and kisses my belly every night! I love it...and him so much! :-) Men are so different when it comes to their wife being pregnant. My co-worker Sharon said she had a friend who's husband wouldn't hardly look at her when she was pregnant...but Sharon's husband was the proud peacock when she was pregnant. I'm so thrilled that Josh is a proud peacock too and is as happy and excited as I am!

December 19-20, 2005

December 19, 2005

LoL....I just read online that you are more susceptible to being sick of you are having twins! LMAO....January 4th can't come soon enough! :-) But it also said that if you are susceptible to motion sickness and if you get migraines you're more likely to get sick during pregnancy. Double Whammy! Since I get both of those, we’ll just go with that! (Even though twins are a possibility since my dad’s mom is a twin!)

I'm really lucky because Karol just had a baby in September, Josh's cousin Zach's wife, Kim, is due March 17th and my cousin is due April 7th. I have so many people around me to ask questions to! My mom is no help since she didn't even know she was pregnant until her 5th month! ;-) I'll be able to go to her later in the pregnancy and about labor, but I don't want to think about that right now!

December 20, 2005

I was late for work this morning because I started puking! I was in the laundry room getting my jeans out of the dryer and BARELY made it to the bathroom! This morning/afternoon/evening sickness is for the birds.

I told my supervisor that I’m pregnant right when I got to work since I had to call in late. She was so happy for us! And she said she was sick for 7 months...YIKES!!! The good thing is she completely understands and said to let her know if I need anything. It was funny because I got all flustered when I started to say "I have some news" so I ended up just stuttering out, "I'M PREGNANT!" LMAO...what’s my problem?!

December 13-14, 2005

December 13, 2005

I'm feeling really good this morning! Much better than yesterday, but I was proud I lasted the day yesterday! :-)

We went to dinner with Fred (Josh's co-worker) last night when they got home. He bought us dinner cuz Josh told him we were expecting. He wanted him to know so he didn't have to keep whispering to me in the phone. Fred said he had a pretty good idea that's what was going on because Josh keeps calling me to see how I'm feeling!

We got home about 7:00 and got right on the phone to call the rest of my dad's side of the familly. I called Auntie Kathy, Jodi and Aunt Carol last night. All were very excited. Aunt Carol is happy for us, but I can tell it's a little difficult for her to swallow. I understand that tho since her two daughters are unable to have kids due to endometriosis. When I called Auntie Kathy I said Josh and I had some news and she started screeching! LMAO...it was cute...she's really excited and said I'd better call Jodi! I told her I was going to as soon as I got off the phone! :-) It was funny...she asked how I was feeling and I said CRAPPY! Teeheehee... Then I called Jodi and we chatted about the shower and other stuff and I asked her when she was due. She said April 7th and I said, "Josh's cousin is due March 17th and I'm due August 11th!" She was like, "WHAT?! OMG! YOU'RE PREGNANT TOO?!" She was so excited! It was FUN! :-D She was jealous that we get to have an ultrasound on Jan 4th and another one at 20 weeks. Then she told me about hearing the heartbeat the first time and she kept giggling....and that Beau said she laughs so much that Aiden is going to think that everything is always moving. Then she said our baby was going to think that even more than theirs! LoL...

I went to bed around 8 or 8:30...and slept all night except when I had to pee. I never pee at night...this better not be starting already! LoL...

December 14, 2005

It took me 1.5 hours to get to work in the snow this morning and I almost pissed my pants! I RAN into the building and straight to the bathroom when I got here! Next time I know to just stop at a gas station...naughty! :-)

Oh yeah, I also barfed at work this morning...what fun, what fun, especially when you're trying to hide it from your co-workers!

December 9-11, 2005

December 9, 2005

We got to my mom and dad’s house around 8:30 tonight. Josh and I had it all planned out how we’d tell them our exciting news. However, I wanted to walk in the door and tell them, but Josh wanted to unpack and wait a little bit before we said anything. Of course he won that argument, so my stomach was tied into knots as we chi-chatted with my parents. At one point mom even said to me, “Why are you smirking?” I said, “I’m not!”

A little while later the four of us were sitting in the living room and I kept trying to get Josh’s attention without any luck. Actually, I think he was ignoring me on purpose just to make me wait! So I finally said, “Oh yeah! We have an early Christmas present for you guys!” I caught Josh’s eye as I walked out of the room to go to the suit case and shot a look at him like, “HA! I’m not waiting any longer!”

I came back pretty quickly with their little gift, handed it to mom and then sat down by Josh. This is what we gave them:

Mom opened it and her jaw dropped! She said something along the lines of, “You’re going to have a baby?!” My poor dad was like, “WHAT?!” Then mom finally handed him the picture frame and he read it. We all got teary eyed and hugged each other. It all happened so fast I wish that Josh would have let me video tape it so I could remember every moment. To celebrate, mom, dad and Josh had a glass of cream rum we had brought back from Jamaica. It was lots of fun and very memorable…they’re SOOOO happy for us!

And now we get to tell the rest of the family tomorrow…we have picture frames for our grandparents too. Since no one knew we were trying they’re all going to be really surprised!

December 10, 2005

Today was full of nerves and excitement! I don’t think I’ve ever felt as much anticipation and butterflies in my stomach as I did today!

Our first task of the day was to orchestrate our schedule so we could see both sets of my grandparents, Josh’s parents and grandparents and fit in some phone calls to aunts and uncles somewhere in between. That wasn’t easy since it was last minute so we could surprise them! I called G-pa Wally first and he said that G-ma Viv had a hair appointment at 10:00. I asked if it was ok if Josh and I came over around 9:00 and he said of course! G-ma Alice likes to sleep in so I didn’t really want to call there at 8:00, but I did anyway! G-pa John said she was still in bed (surprise, surprise!) and they were going to run to town to the grocery store as soon as she got up. Well, I made him wake her up and make a breakfast date at the local café for 10:15. PERFECT! In the mean time my Auntie Diane (yes, I still call all my Aunts Auntie!) called to talk to my mom, so of course my mom handed me the phone and told me to tell her. Not before she ran to the other phone to listen in though! She was very excited for us!

After I got off the phone we went to G-ma Viv and G-pa Wally’s house. We also told them we had an early Christmas present for them and gave G-ma the frame to open. She got all excited and said, “Alright! Two great-grandbabies in one year!” (My cousin Jodi is due April 7th!) Then she stopped. She said, “But this says August 11, 2005…is this a joke?!” HOW DID I SCREW THAT UP?! I said, “It’s no joke, just bad proofreading!” They were so happy, G-pa even cried, so I of course did too!

Then we were on our way to Dave’s Café to meet g-ma Alice, g-pa John, Brooke, Brad and Auntie Diane. When everyone was almost done eating I gave G-ma and G-pa their frame. G-ma whispered to me, “I think I know what it is…is it Mugsey?” I felt so bad…Mugsey was my dog that G-ma and G-pa sorta took custody of when I left for school. We had to put him down this year. I just whispered back, “No, it’s not Mugsey, but you’ll like it.” They were shocked and very excited when they read the frame too! Brooke was sitting across the table from us looking confused and I said, “Josh and I are going to have a baby!” She got a little teared up and got up to give me a big hug! It was cool and I’m glad we were able to get everyone there for that!

On our hour drive from my hometown to Josh’s hometown I was on the cell phone most of the way calling the rest of my family. My Uncle Johnny really surprised me when he asked if we were going to find out the sex. I said we wanted to and he said, “Life has few really big surprises and that is one of them.” I was caught off guard with that! Still, I’m too much of a planner to not find out! My Auntie Laurie was really excited as well and she said she’d call my cousins to let them know too.

Now it was Josh’s turn to be on the phone, but it wasn’t very long! He only wanted to make one call and that was to his sister, Ashlee. I think this was the best call of them all! Josh said, “Asherly (that’s what he used to call her when he was little), you’re going to be an Auntie!” All of a sudden I heard her scream through the cell phone, “SHUT UP!” and then, “OH MY GOSH!” It was so cool! She was so excited! She said she just told her co-workers the other day that we needed to have a baby soon! Boy, did she call that one or what?! After all of our calls and all that excitement I dozed off in the truck until we got to Josh’s hometown.

We went right to his G-ma and G-pa’s house when we got into town. They were so happy, as usual, to see us and we had a great visit. When we gave them their frame G-ma Adeline said she wanted to put it close to her heart and started to put it under her shirt! (It was funny and cute!) She was so happy and excited for us! When she showed G-pa Jim he read it and said, “Oh good. So did you hear about the new business coming into town?” LoL…that’s typical for G-pa and we both laughed!

Next stop was Josh’s mom and step-dad’s house. Jacki (his mom) was going to make us lunch…delicious BLT’s by the way! Jim (his step-dad) was at work so it was the three of us and my brother-in-law, Dan. We had all just started eating and Josh got up and gave the picture frame to his mom. She said, “What’s this?!” Josh said, “An early Christmas present.” When she tore the paper off it was upside down and she was excited that it was a picture frame. Then she turned it over, read the insert, looked at us, and said, “No way!” She handed it to Dan as she got up to give us hugs. All Dan could say was, “Wow.” They were both pretty surprised, but excited. I’m pretty sure that Dan wasn’t far from tears…it was really sweet. We had a good laugh when Josh told Jacki that Ash and G-ma and G-pa knew before she did!

We hung out with them for a couple hours and then headed up to Karol and Jerry’s house for our annual Thanksmas party with our friends. I couldn’t wait to get there and tell the last bunch of people our news. By now I had so much excitement for the day I just wanted to get it over with! I had read online somewhere that someone told their family they were pregnant by non-chalantly refusing a glass of wine by saying, “No thanks, I’m pregnant!” I thought that was really cool and we decided if the opportunity came up I’d say that! Well, it didn’t, but something else happened! Shortly after we got there Josh was holding Karol and Jerry’s daughter, Kaylie, and she spit up on him. With my weak stomach I jumped up to get away from him and I started gagging. Either Karol or Meghan said, “Alissa, what are you going to do when you have your own kids?” I looked around for a second to see if everyone was in the room (which I thought they were!) and said, “Well, I guess we’ll find out in August!” There was a couple seconds of silence and then a lot of excitement. The girls and McG ran over to give hugs and congratulations to us as I realized that Rayn, a close friend for over 13 years, wasn’t in the room! He was upstairs tending to the turkey with Brooke! OH NO! I felt terrible, so I went upstairs to tell him I thought he was in the room and that I had so much excitement today that I just wanted to get it over with and relax. I’m glad he was upstairs with Brooke and she already knew because she said he looked at her and said, “What?! Alissa’s pregnant?!” After we got all that cleared up we all chit-chatted and I filled them in on all the details. It was a really fun night, even without getting loaded like everyone else did! :-) I went to bed around midnight and I got woke up about 3:00 am by Rayn, who was still in shock that I was pregnant! We stayed up until almost 7:00 am talking about it…I think he was just mad because he wasn’t the first to know!

December 11, 2005

I really suffered from my lack of sleep today. I could hardly choke down breakfast and when we finally left Karol and Jerry’s mid-afternoon, we still had more stops to make before we could head back to MN. The first was at June’s house! I think I woke up in her driveway, went in, gave her a picture frame and a big hug and then got back in the truck and went to sleep again! She was the only other person to notice my year error, but she didn't say anything until we did!

We picked Scooby up at my mom and dad’s house and then got back on the road to MN! What a long, exciting weekend!! It couldn’t have been better!