And Baby Makes Three

Hi!!! Well, in case you don't understand or can't read the above picture (which is a little ironic if you can't since it's inspired by eye tests since Taylor is in optometry school...but it is a little confusing so I won't judge)...WE ARE HAVING A BABY!

I actually started writing blog post about 7 weeks ago, even though I knew we wouldn't be sharing our news for a little while. I was just so excited I wanted to start documenting. I didn't quite finish it because I'm sure I just got distracted or something, so I thought about just re-writing the whole thing but I just figured I'd keep what I wrote originally to be able to look back and then I'll jump in and continue where I left off:

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November 27, 2014

I feel weird writing this post because I won't be publishing it until we've publicly announced that we are having a baby!! However, given my history of blogging, if I don't write this all now, I probably never will ((side note from today's Kelsey---I'm so glad I wrote this cause it saved me so much writing today!)). And even if I tried, I would probably forget a lot of the details that I have fresh in my mind right now. Also, being a newly-pregnant person (I say person because pregnant lady sounds strange to me (in my mind I will always be, like, 16--I'm sure my kids will love that)...and pregnant girl sounds like I am 16 and pregnant), anyway being a newly-pregant person I love reading people's blogs from when they were as far along as I am.

That being said, today I am 7 weeks and 1 day! I used to make fun of people in my head (#sorryimajerk) who always included telling people those extra days, but when time seems to be going by slowly, those extra days count! And plus they do count!

For those who like the whole story, here it is ((warning: if you don't like any type of TMI or the word "period", skip down to the picture below!)):

First of all, I'll just go ahead and say this wasn't a "surprise baby". I only mention that to give context to the story, and because frankly, sometimes I myself am a curious person and sometimes just wonder if people were planning on starting a family or if it just happens for them unexpectedly. Many people think it's rude of people to ask (and I can understand why), but I'm not offended if you were wondering, so there's your answer :).

Anyway, this year Halloween fell on a Friday. The Monday before Halloween (Oct. 27th) I, being the impatient person that I am, decided to take a pregnancy test because all those commercials say they can give you correct results up to 5 days before your missed period, and mine was due in just two days. It was a digital test. The test was negative with "NOT PREGNANT" showing as the result, and I was pretty bummed, but that was life. I was sure my period was coming because I had my typical period symptoms so I was sad, but it was OK.

Wednesday (the day I was due for my period) came and went, so on Thursday (Oct. 30th) I took a test. I took a Clear Blue test. The first few seconds it looked negative, and then I saw a VERY, VERY, VERY faint line. It was so faint that I was pretty sure I was just seeing things, so I sent the picture to Taylor and he felt the same as I did---not really positive, but not quite negative. WHAT KIND OF RESULT IS THAT?!? How can you be "kind of" pregnant???? It was so faint that had I not wanted to be pregnant I would have been relieved at the result and thrown the dumb thing away.

As mentioned, being OCD I had to figure out what it meant right then. I texted the picture to my sister Nicole (who gets lots of credit for being patient with my craziness that day and every day since because she was the only one besides Taylor who knew for a while). She said it looked positive but to test again with a pink dye test. I ran to the store and grabbed a few. ((the good thing about not living in Provo anymore is you don't have to worry about running into 700 people you know when buying these kinds of items!)) I took a couple, and the lines were a little darker than my original faint line, but were still not satisfactory in my mind.

[what a cliff-hanger.....CONTINUING on Jan. 19th :)]

I knew that Taylor was excited about getting pregnant eventually so I really didn't want to get his hopes up or tell him I was pregnant until I knew for certain that I was pregnant (I know, I sound so dumb that I wouldn't just believe it).

So I continued to harass my sister who so kindly even shared the picture with her nurse friend who said I was definitely pregnant.

I was in complete shock. Good shock. But shock nonetheless. I had work that day and I felt so antsy. As mentioned, all the tests were just the dye tests, so I planned to take my last digital test the next morning to see if the digital test would now say "PREGNANT" since just a few days before it had said otherwise. I had to keep my mouth closed about this all day so that I could have a fun surprise for Taylor the next day should the test turn out! I kind of hinted to him that I knew my period was coming so we shouldn't get our hopes up.

The next morning I woke up early before Taylor was up and took a test. It read "PREGNANT" and I was so excited and surprised (since I was new at this) that the digital test could tell me something completely different than it did just a few days before.

I took Taylor to school and then ran to Target to get stuff to make a cute sign to tell him later that day when he came home.

Now before you all get excited, no our child is not Benjamin Button (see photo below). He or she is definitely due in July of 2015. I was just a little excited and didn't realize until later that I wrote '2014'. Oops :). Also, when we were dating we made Build-a-Bears of each other (I know I know cheesy--but I'm sure lots of you have done it!) and I put little glasses on the bear for Taylor since he wears glasses. I figured instead of laying out a third pair of shoes, I'd put some little glasses since we both wear glasses now :).

 I was so nervous but excited to tell Taylor (cue Zac Efron's SNL skit). He came home and I had my paparazzi self ready and followed him into our room. He was so happy he didn't even notice our Benjamin Button baby's due date :). But really, this was such a fun and happy day for us!

So where are we now? I'm 14 weeks 5 days today! All seems to be going well with our baby so far which we are so grateful for, and we pray every day that things continue that way. My morning sickness never got too out of hand, but I'm so grateful to be able to feel more confident with eating certain things and eating in general nowadays! I also don't feel like a tired, groggy zombie anymore. This is a public service announcement apologizing for our lack of reaching out to people during Christmas with cards, gifts, etc., and for those close family and friend who did get presents wrapped in non-Christmas wrapping paper and masking tape (Dobby the elf must have taken all our Scotch tape), now you know why I wasn't quite pulled together.


Jokes aside, we are so, so, so grateful for the opportunity that we have to become parents, and I am so incredibly excited to become a mother. I know being a mother isn't always a glamorous job, and I'm definitely appreciating sleep now as I know it won't be the norm later, but this is always what I've wanted to do with my life--be a mother, so I'm so so grateful. Given polar opposite histories with fertility on each side of my family, we had no idea how long it would take for us to be able to start a family (as far as my contribution to fertility goes), and we were very surprised that Heavenly Father's plan for us was that it wasn't going to take as long as we thought. As I mentioned in my last post, last year was a really hectic year for us, and pretty emotional and hard with other trials and big changes in other areas of our life. At times I felt like I had no idea what was in store for us or if we'd ever "catch a break" with some of the things life was throwing at us.

 As we prayed to start our family, Heavenly Father knew that we'd be willing to submit to His will with this in all ways, but He also knew the little things in my heart that meant a lot to me and the little things that would make me so happy. One of those things was my desire for Taylor to be able to be home (not in school) with me for a little when we had our baby. This would really only be possible in June, July, and a couple weeks in August because other than that he is in school full time. We are due July 15, 2015 (my birthday!), which gives us just over a month of time that Taylor gets to be at home with me and the baby. I know that Heavenly Father could have blessed us with a child whenever He saw fit, and we would have been grateful no matter when that was. However, our success with conception and our due date was a little reminder to me that Heavenly Father is aware of us each individually and He knows the little things we all think about, worry about, and even want. Throughout my trials in my life, especially when my dad passed unexpectedly when my family was all so young, I have always accepted that He has a greater plan for us than we know, and sometimes it's not always what we have in mind or want. But I know that there are in fact times when sometimes our will does match up with His and that He has so many blessings for each of us in store. We know we have a long and interesting road ahead of us as new parents, but we are so grateful and excited for this new chapter of our lives!

Here is an update of where we are now: