Comments...

To my surprise blogger does not notify me in any way of comments on here. So today I happened to see I had comments dating back to my first post. So please don't feel bad I never responded to any of them.

Once I return to this blog I will make sure to look at comments more often :)

Hopefully soon!

Rambling...

I was going to delete this blog but I decided against it. I decided it was an important few weeks in my life and I would like to remember the reactions, thoughts, and feelings that were shared. I do thank everyone for their love and support through the rough time. We were doing much better this week and had a positive outlook until Wednesday. At the end of soccer practice we were walking to the car when one of the players came up and gave me a big hug with tears in her eyes and said, "I am really sorry."

Anywhoodle....we look forward to the near future where we can share the news again. So for now I will leave the blog empty until I become a hungry monster.

I'm a monster!

I figured I would post the food I have eaten in the past few hours for your enjoyment.

For dinner I had...

-Hamburger (minus the bun)
-side of whole wheat penne pasta with a little bit of fat free cheese
-6 pieces of corn on the cob (No, that is not a typo...it really was 6!)
-3 girl scout cookies (that is what I get for supporting the girl scouts!)

It was not the most healthy of choices but it happens. So that was dinner and it is now 9;30pm. Let me fill you in on the post-dinner snacks that has lead up to now.

-Individual size bag of raisins, almonds, cranberries
-An entire can of green beans
-1 more girl scout cookie (Someone take these out of the house!!)
-A fruit cup
-3 glasses of 75% water and 25% cranberry juice

Oh my is that a million calories for dinner or what? Oh, and I must mention that I am not full but amused. I hope you are just as amused at my monster abilities.

4 Weeks + 4 Days

39,761. That is the number of trips to the bathroom I have made today alone. I am feeling extra bloated today. I decided to skip the gym again, partly because I forgot my sneakers at home, but mainly because I just wasn't up for it. I sat on the sofa and looked down and was quite shocked. I know I will probably say that quite often throughout the next 9 months but here is the start of it.
The first appointment is still 2 weeks away. I am trying to avoid sharing it with the facebook world and all of my friends until that date. However; I so just want to shout it out to everyone. Will I be able to hold out for that long?
Rob and I discussed some more names last night. This is going to be tough! Good thing we have a long time to think about it!

Names

Yes, I know you are probably thinking I am crazy. I have not even seen the doctor yet and I am buying diapers. My thought behind this is every week I am going to buy a pack of diapers. I will switch it up with sizes and brands. Then by the time the baby comes I will have a nice stock pile. If I happen to not like a brand, I will return it to the only store that will take absolutely everything back: Wal-Mart. Of course, that is if they are not opened.

In other news we were doing even more early planning and thinking of names. This is going to be difficult! Things will probably change a thousand times before we actually sign the birth certificate but here is what we are thinking now...

Boys: Joshua Robert (Robert obviously coming from Rob)

Jacob (No reference. Nice name.)

(we like William but will not torture our child by naming him Will Smith!)

Girls: Hailey Marie (The middle name comes from Rob's grandmothers middle name...as well as mine.)

Jayden Rose (This is a combo name. The Jay in Jayden is from my father's middle name and Rose stems from my grandmothers middle name and the first part of my mother's name.)

There are plenty more but for right now I have to run...

More Reveals

Saturday went well. I was making announcements to our soccer team and was reminded about an announcement. The announcement was about the girls being selected to play at Raymond James stadium. Before I could get the words out about the game, one of the parents jumped in and said, "you are going to have a baby! No? Oh ok, I was just kidding". Rob and I both looked at eachother and stated well yes, but that is not the announcement we were thinking of. Lots of smiles and hugs and of course a room filled with young baby sitters.

Today we went to visit with the inlaws. It was Patti's birthday Saturday so we decided to take her and Bill out for lunch. During lunch we handed Patti a purse with the same style picture frame as I had given my parents. She was quite confused at first and thought she had the wrong bag. She asked "who is grandma?" Well she eventually caught on and they were both thrilled.

We started to conquer the "storage room". This has been the room where we tend to throw anything and everything in there. We never knew what to do what the room so it just continued to collect junk. After about 5 trashbags we are starting to get there. I actually still had a moving box in the closet! It is still a work in progress but will eventually become the baby's room.

After a long and exhausting day it is time for a nap.

The Reveal

We purchased a picture frame that said "I love my Grandpa" and wrapped it up. As I mentioned earlier, I could not hold it in any longer and had to tell my parents. This weekend is slam packed for both Rob and me so I said I was going to do it tonight. Well, since Rob had to work I was on my own. I got to dinner and said 'Rob wanted to be here but he had to work so I will give it to you." Well my mom opened it and was quite clueless. She said "oh, that's cute" to which my reply was, "you are not getting it". She screamed and immediately started hugging me with more screams. My Dad, who was sitting across the table and completely out of the loop, stated "is it what I think it is?" My mom and I both shook our heads yes. It was a moment of shock for everyone and then it was lots of happiness. It went well.
After the typical questions were answered the news had to be spread. My mother called my grandmother to inform her. She sounded quite excited as well.
As I drove back home with my parents following behind I decided to call my sister. She answered and all I said was "Hi Aunt Michele". It seemed to pass by her and then she came back after a moment and said "Wait a minute....AUNT? What?" Plenty of screams and happiness there as well! I must add that I am still texting her back and forth now about all fun baby stuff.
When we finally arrived back to my house I got out of the car and saw my Dad was on the phone with a big grin. I knew he was sharing the news with someone. The story was great! He text messaged his sister (Aunt Arlene) "Julie's having a baby". She immediately called him back and yelled at him for making her almost get in an accident since she was driving.

The news is spreading so very fast! It is such a relieft to know the secret is out! Time to relax and enjoy the adventure! Tomorrow I will spread the news to the soccer team and Sunday we will share with Rob's family. I am off to make Rob some dinner....Good Night all!

The Big Day

I have decided today is the day. Not just any day, but the day I break the news to my family. I am sure there will be a hesitation from everyone. The economy is not in the best of positions right now and the biggest fear from my family: school. They fear I will not finish school. I know what it means to have a degree and I know what I want to do with my life and that is teach. I still have the incredible hunger to finish school and have a career to provide for myself and my family. For now, things have changed, my life is leading me down a different path this path also involves me going to school. I know it will be a challenging, I understand that, but we are up for task. We will do what it takes to make this situation the best one possible. They say there is never a good time to have a child and it is not something you can wait until you are financially stable or whatever. It is true. Think about each moment in your life. There really has never been a time in most of our lives where we can say we were in the perfect place to raise a family. There are always bumps in the road but that is what makes us stronger. I was raised with the belief that everything happens for a reason. We may not know right now what the reason is but I am excited to learn.
So stay tuned to learn about the reactions of different people, the (grand)parents mostly. I also plan on using this as my updates to everyone on the progress of me and the family. Oh, goodness what an exciting venture we are on!

The Stick

It was Tuesday (March 9, 2009) and I wasn't feeling too well. I had some of the typical early symptoms but I waived it off as nothing. My lovely coworker, Alyse, looked at me and said the magic words. Back-up! I must mention who knew first. My dogs. I know it sounds crazy but for about a week and half they insisted on never leaving my side. They both would fight over cuddling up and scratching at my stomach. This is not like them at all. Ok, back to the work story...I told her she was crazy and went on with my day. At 3:30 I followed my routine and changed into my gym clothes for a 4:15 workout with my dad. As I was leaving Alyse threatened, in a kind way of course, that I was not to return to work the next day unless I had peed on a stick. While driving home I felt quite tired decided to pass on going to the gym for a good nap. Before I could even hit the pillow of the couch I was sleeping. When I finally woke up Alyse's voice was replaying in my head especially after the unusual nap. So I ran down to the store and picked up a test to please her and now ease my own wandering mind. After setting the box in the bathroom for the next morning I decided it was time for bed.

I woke the next morning to "The Stick". Well sure enough I opened it up and read the instructions and followed them precisely. I sat it down and continued my morning routine to get ready for work. I looked at the clock at the desired time had passed. I glanced over to The Stick and there was a plus sign. Surely, a plus must mean negative, right? I scrambled through the trash to find the instructions again with the hopes that the real world does not use common math symbols. Obviously I was wrong. Ok, so that is one test. How accurate is that? I went to a sleeping Rob, who was aware of the dilemma, and explained the plus sign. He, thankfully, was quite....thrilled. (I hesitated to find a word to fit the emotion. I still do not think I nailed it.) We both agreed we would not say a word until we knew for sure.

On my way to work I called my Doc and made an appointment, which I must add is not until March 31! I spoke to Nichol the rest of the way to work and it helped the nerves. It was about lunch time when I called Rob to say hi, when he informed me how many people he shared the news with. He is so giddy and excited. Anyway, this story is getting quite long so I will speed it up. Throughout the next few days I continued to take all the tests I purchased and each one came back with the same result so I am finally agreeing with The Stick.