Guess What!

On Saturday, November 22nd, I was able to surprise Michael (and I do mean SURPRISE him) with some exciting news! I told him that Saturday afternoon that I wanted to go out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary, even though our anniversary isn't until December 16th. I told him that I had a gift for him that I wanted him to have before Thanksgiving. Somehow, he fell for this, and my plan started to take shape.

We went to South Park for a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. By the time we were seated, Michael was about to burst wide open waiting to find out what his gift was. :) I had created a scrapbook for him. As he started looking through the scrapbook, I could tell he was reading it the words on the pages, but perhaps not taking tons of time to really "dive into" the book. Not a big deal - I really wanted him to get to the end of the scrapbook anyway because the last 3 pages contained an even bigger "gift." When he got to the next-to-last set of pages, he read the words, but then got a slightly confused look on his face. As he peered at me with many question marks behind his eyes, I said, "Michael, do you understand? Turn the page." The last page said, "Congratulations, Daddy To Be!" He looked up at me again and said incredulously, "Are you pregnant?" Now this is where you should know that Michael and I have been wanting to have a baby for many months, so this wasn't an "oops" type of situation! When I said, "YES," his reactions and thought processes started to come together a bit more, and he became as excited as I was.

During the next several days, we had the opportunity to see both of our families and tell everyone in person. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we had dinner with my parents and Nana Lou. They were SUPER excited to find out about their first grandbaby (and great grandbaby). I think my father told everyone he knew within the first 24 hours after he found out! I got to talk to my Aunt Sandi on Tuesday night to tell her. She was so excited she squealed! :)

Michael's family was next. When we arrived in Alabama on Wednesday night, we told his parents and brother Dave and sister-in-law Melissa. Dave and Melissa had just had a baby on October 1st, so they were full of WONDERFUL advice for us. On Thursday when the rest of the family (Mike's brother Steve and girlfriend Amy) arrived, we were planning to wait until dinner to tell them our big news. I had brought some of our scrapbooks (wedding, honeymoon, etc.) down to show everyone, and Amy picked up the one I gave Michael at The Cheesecake Factory. We just let her and Steve look through it and figure it out. They actually did better than Michael did! :)

Needless to say, we are both super excited about this pregnancy. Michael has been wonderful - taking care of me, making sure I have enough to eat (these cravings are an interesting beast...), going to doctor's appointments with me. At our first doctor's appointment, we saw what looked like a little grain of rice - our baby! We go back to the doctor on December 23rd - and will hopefully see/hear a heartbeat! Right now, the due date is July 29th... one day after my grandmother's birthday, one day before our nephew Tyler's birthday, and six days before Michael's birthday. :) You never know!!!

What an exciting time in our lives! We are so thankful for all of our friends and family who we know will be so supportive of us during this time. We love you all!