HOLY CRAP =)

It is interesting the way the mind works, but I will have to admit that I still really didn’t believe it until I saw it for my own eyes at our first Ultrasound on May 6th (during our 12th week). For all I know they play the same video of an active dancing little guy starting to strongly resemble a little person - for everyone….but all I could think was…HOLY CRAP, there really is a baby in there! Measuring a whole 1.7 inches (4.53 CM) long from crown to rump, Barstow looked to be pretty active in there with a normal heart rate of 171 that time.

Easter and sharing our news with family

We didn’t really share our news with anyone about the baby right away, not having been through this and knowing that chances are fair that something could go wrong in that early stage. On Easter we had the chance to see both of our families and though it was stil
l a little early at our 8th week we let everyone know our news. At the Foley Easter, I broke the news as we were all posing for remote controlled Family self-portrait. This would have been a lot funnier if anyone actually believed me! Instead they thought I was joking and it even took a little convincing before they actually thought I was telling the truth. At the McClure Easter, Steve shared the news as Nicolle and I were leaving for a walk after dinner. Everyone seemed very excited for us, even as we promised to call in prior assurances that some of them would be more than happy to drop what they were doing to help us out should we need some time to ourselves when we had children.
After this we were kind of waiting for our first few appointments and our 12th week to pass before letting everyone know (though, I may have told a few close friends along the way;).

Photography Workshop

In the midst of all this craziness, I had signed up for a 2-day weekend Photography workshop. I learned how to work my camera in manual mode and I actually kind of prefer it. I can imagine it would be a little difficult to keep up with at a family event, but as far as landscapes or live animals it definitely allows the appropriate amount of control. The workshop was well worth the time and money investment since it is a little more of a passion than a hobby for me and I needed to get some help stepping out of my box to begin to really learn. I got a serious jones for a better lense or lenses in the process of the 2 days. Unfortunately that is where this hobby gets a little slowed down for me. The really nice lenses cost more than the camera and that is a little hard to justify….so I guess I will have to perfect my usage in the range I have available with my 2 lenses…for now.

Time to catch up - BIG NEWS for us :)

Spring Recap - Well, I know I said I was back and have been terrible about updating – but there was so much going on that I wasn’t necessarily ready to share with the general public it was difficult write an entry without mentioning our new and world altering news. So I guess a recap of spring is in order before I try to get in the groove of maybe updating weekly….well – it is a goal anyway ;)

I suppose the best place to start would be what I will refer to as….the last day I could think straight. On March 31st, I had a weird day. I had been feeling a little different… couldn’t quite place it, but I decided to take the 2nd of 3 pregnancy tests out of curiosity at work in the late morning. Since it was the 2nd, you understand it is not the first time this had crossed my mind. I had taken a test the week before St. Patty’s day and our party and had interpreted it as a negative test…subsequently giving me the go ahead to enjoy the libations that are customary for us in such situations….Anyhoo – This time when I took the test it still seemed questionable to me, but made me think it was time to go to the doctor and have them clear this up for me. This was not at all what I had expected. I go to the desk, they just give me a cup and tell me to go pea and then I was done and could go. I don’t really know what I expected to happen, but it was a little weird to me. So I peed and returned to work fully expecting to get a call that I was not pregnant and could go on with my life like normal... Instead I got a cheerful call, quickly telling me that I was pregnant and the results showed up “right away”! So - though right then, I believe I learned what a panic attack is…we learned the very happy news that we are expecting a baby on or about November 20th of this year. I was about 6 weeks along since they begin counting from the first day of your last period…which I will never really truly understand, but since that what all the books go by – I guess I will too. Steve quickly named the baby what it will be know as until it arrives - Barstow (an anagram for the "two bars" on the pregnancy test I was somehow unable to correctly decipher, twice).

I have been very lucky during these early months to not be sick or have any terrible symptoms, except for the whole….feel like you’ve been climbing a mountain and could sleep all of the time thing…but generally I have felt very good and feel lucky – just praying the luck continues throughout.

We'll call this our "before" picture taken when I was 10 Weeks