Announcing Baby Anderson!!!

Some of you have been aware of the news for a while, but today I'm officially informing the blog world. Tim and I are expecting our first baby!! It's been a whirlwind past few months, celebrating this little blessing and gradually letting family and friends in on the secret. I have had a really smooth first trimester. Just a small amount of nausea in the beginning but no throwing up or all day, dead-tiredness. It's been so wonderful!!! I realize not everyone has it that easy.

My due date is February 11, 2012. I will turn "12 weeks" this weekend. We could not be more thrilled or grateful as we anticipate this precious little one!

On the weekend we "found out" I took 4 home pregnancy tests total. 3 First Response, 1 ClearBlueEasy. I was  pretty convinced after the second one, but Tim said...."Are you sure? Take another one just to be sure." Same response after the third. haha!! (Hence trying "another brand" to 100% confirm.) The boy was a little surprised it happened on our first month of trying. And I was too. But once the shock settled in, we said over and over again how grateful we are that this happened quickly. I cannot imagine the stress of month after month hoping for a baby, or embarking on the long,trying journey of IVF, and my heart always breaks when I hear those stories.

Since we knew we were about to start trying, I made an online scrapbook of pictures telling the story of our relationship. On the last page, came the announcement. (Yes, the cheese factor is pretty strong. But I didn't want to just run out with a pregnancy test. I wanted to make it special.) It definitely felt a little strange making this before we even knew we were pregnant, but I figured I would just save this little book for however many months or years it took us to get pregnant. Little did I know I would be using it right away. The scrapbook arrived in the mail from Walgreens.com the day before I found out.  Here's a sample of the pages. There were about 10 or 12 pages total. I had just made these scrapbooks for our Napa and Key West trips, so Tim didn't think it was too odd when I told him to randomly flip through this one. I just told him I was on a roll with catching up on some scrapbooks and he didn't seem to think much of it....until the last page of course.  :)

Here's the last page, featuring a picture from our engagement photo session and the special caption.

                                       
                                  The first words Tim said was..."You are?" Then, "This is real!?" "How do you know?" "Are you sure?" That's when the mission for taking the third and fourth pregnancy test began.

       We went to one of our favorite "special occasion" restaurants for dinner to celebrate. Here's me taking a "before" pic, so months down the road  when I'm huge I can look back and laugh.                                      

                                                        Here's our six week sonogram. It was amazing to think that that tiny, barely visible dot is the beginning of our baby!! The heartbeat was strong at 140. And we had a great time meeting with the nurses and doctors and learning all about the months to come, on how the office operates throughout a pregnancy.

I thought this picture was hilarious. I had been studying the printed-out sonogram the nurse had just given me and I noticed Tim was studiously reading a magazine. I asked him what he was reading, and he just smiled and flipped the magazine up. LOL Check out the title. Clearly, the table with all the golf and sports magazines was on the other side of the room. : ) 

                                     The night we told my parents was a very memorable evening. We invited them over for dinner, but before we sat down we told them the exciting news!!! I had gone out earlier that day and bought both my Mom and Dad a couple "Grandparent gifts" to celebrate. They could not stop grinning. And of course, ever since the announcement, they have both been on Cloud 9 thinking of being grandparents for the first time.

                                    The pages inside this book are just so sweet. My mom loved it!

 I got my Dad this cute little Gator bib. (Don't worry Auburn fans, Baby Anderson will be sporting PLENTY of Auburn gear too. In fact, my supportive Gator Dad was just up in Auburn a few weeks ago helping my brother move home from college. He went to Kinukans and brought me back some adorable Auburn baby booties, Auburn bib, an AU burp cloth, and an AU pacifier set. It was so cute of him!!)

                                     Our dining room table was the scene of lots of initial conversations about Baby Anderson that night.

                                           Tim's parents were out of town that weekend, but we wanted to tell them the news in person rather than over the phone, even though we were "telling my parents" that day. Since we already had plans to fly to North Carolina the next weekend to be with them for Tim's cousin's coronation ball, we kept quiet all week then told them the news when we arrived. Here's a picture of us from that night. It was another special night of celebration. Tim's parents were thrilled about the baby too!

Here's a pic of the two of us from that night. We ended up telling his aunts and uncles and cousins that night too, since we don't get to see them in person often. It was early to tell them, but they were sworn to secrecy.

At about 10 weeks I started telling friends in Tampa. The word is pretty much out now. And now the main thing is....COUNTDOWN TO GENDER DAY!!! We find out in exactly 4 weeks what we're having. (Well, hopefully that is. We're doing the 16 week gender sonogram, and the doctors have promised me they are able to tell then! Assuming the baby is in the right position and all.)

We can't wait till February!