Announcing...

Ryan is excited to announce that in December, he's going to be a big brother! To many of you, this is not a surprise since I've been dreadfully slow in posting (more on that later) but I wanted to still record a timeline of sorts so our baby knows how all the excitement of announcing went down!


April 12 (4.5 weeks): Positive pregnancy test. Adam was gone doing something that nights, so I brought Ryan to the library after work and picked out a book about being a big brother. When Adam came home that night, I told him to go in and look at what Ryan was reading. He was very excited! Then came many weeks of keeping a secret!

April 16 (5 weeks): My 30th birthday! Adam planned a surprised birthday supper with my family and I felt so sick that night, it was hard to celebrate. Now they know why I was acting a little weird! I felt sick pretty much from this day forward :-* 

April 17 (5 weeks, 1 day): Adam and I celebrated our 8th anniversary!

June 3 (11 weeks, 6 days): On the morning before we were going to break the news to my parents, we decided to talk to Ryan about having a baby in our house and him being a big brother, so at the breakfast table, we turned off cartoons and told him we needed to tell him something. Here's a portion of how the conversation went.

Me: Ryan, remember how we've talked about maybe someday we'd have a baby come live at our house?
Ryan: Yeah
Me: Well, we ARE going to have a baby come live at our house! A long time from now, we are going to have a new baby in our family.
Ryan: Yeah.  Mommy, the baby is in your tummy.
Me: How did you know that?
Ryan: Aunt Abbie tell me. (Abbie claims she never said anything like this, but does admit she coached Ryan to pray "for a brudder or a sister" which he's done a few times at suppper.)
Me: Well, thanks Aunt Abbie for giving you the "circle of life" talk. :)
Ryan: Mommy, I want to watch Cat in the Hat
Me: Okay, but Ryan, do you know this means you are going to be a big brother?
Ryan: Yeah
Me: You are going to be a GREAT big brother!
Ryan: Yeah, I want to watch Cat in the Hat
Me: Okay, but when we go to grandpa and grandma's house today, when I ask you if you have something to tell grandma, can you say, "Grandma, I'm going to be a big brother!"
Ryan: Yeah
Me: Can you practice? When I say, "Ryan, what do you want to tell grandma?" What are you going to say?
Ryan: Gramma, I'm going to be a big brudder. Can I watch Cat and the Hat now?

The same sort of thing played out when we told my parents. We were there for Sunday lunch along with Abbie, Wade and Saylor. When we sat down to pray, Ryan started and said (with coaching), "Thank you I'm going to be a big brudder. Amen. Can I have some watermelon?"  Our family was, of course, excited! I also called my sister Megan that night to tell her the news, and make sure she wasn't selling a few things I wanted to borrow on her garage sale :)

June 4 (12 weeks): I had my first doctor's appointment here in town and it included an ultrasound. Everything looked great and the baby was measuring right at 12 weeks. It was good to see him/her jumping around and the little heart beating! I was also a little relieved that there was only 1 baby as I had some irrational fears about having twins!

That night, we stopped by Adam's parents house, saying we were running errands in town and sat down to have some ice cream together. That's when Ryan announced that he was going to be a big brother! They were happy for us too and we called Adam's brother that night so all the immediate family knew. We decided not to share it publicly yet since I was leaving for mour big company meeting in Wisconsin the next day. I was sick a few times that week, including the morning of my big presentation, but made it through okay.

June 9 (12 weeks 5 days): After dropping off my parents on our return from Wisconsin, Ryan and I went to tell my Grandma at her house and my other Grandpa at the nursing home. I don't think either of them saw it coming but were happy. Two of my cousins on my dad's side are due in Nov. and Jan. so my grandma might have 3 great-grandchildren in 3 months come winter!

June 11 (13 weeks): I decided to announce at work by bringing 3 dozen caramel rolls as treats. Ironically, another guy in the office had brought in birthday treats the same day...3 dozen caramel rolls. I put a note in the breakroom that "Half of the rolls are from O. and half are from Courtney. One of us is celebrating a birthday and the other is announcing that the newest Ranch Hand will be arriving in December! You decide which is which." Since the birthday guy is 60+, it didn't take people long to figure out!

I also posted the "I'm going to be a big brother" picture along with this picture announcing the due date on Facebook to make it "facebook official." This is certainly the fastest way to get the word out and it's kind of fun to see all the "Likes" and comments pop up!

June 18 (14 weeks): Celebrated Father's Day and  I took my first "pregnancy belly" picture. Not sure how well I'm going to keep this up, but I know that when you're feeling as big as a firetruck down the road, it's nice to look back and see where you started. I feel like I'm showing earlier this time, which is common, and I'm not in as good of shape since I don't work out now and used to a lot before Ryan, but I am actually starting at the exact same pre-pregnancy weight, so it'll be easy to compare as I go!

For anyone who's still reading (sorry so long), here are a few of the FAQ's that inevitably come with pregnancy:

Q) How are you feeling?
A) Sick, tired, generally blah.  I feel about the exact same as I did with Ryan...nauseated most of the time, throwing up about every-other day, hungry all the time with nothing sounding good to eat, heartburn, exhausted, and just trying to make it through the day, accomplishing the basics like work, supper, laundry, putting Ryan to bed. This is my biggest excuse for not blogging much along with the fact that computer work seems to be one of my triggers for feeling sick.

Q) Are you going to find out if it's a boy or a girl?
A) Nope. We have a 20-week ultrasound scheduled but are going to try not to find out. We like surprises!

Q) Do you hope the baby is born on 12-12-12 or on Christmas?
A) The baby is due on 12-17-12 and I was 2 days late with Ryan, so I'm not planning to go that early and certainly don't want to go that late. Of course, it's all in God's hands, but I would just like to have a healthy baby who's had plenty of time to develop and doesn't push my patience at the end!

Q) What does Ryan think about all this?
A) He, of course, has no idea of what this is all about but so far seems fine with the idea. When we showed him the ultrasound he said, "Mommy, that's the baby in your belly" and he'll pat my belly, saying, "Hi, baby! I love you! I'm your big brother!" He sometimes talks about a brother or a sister but we're trying to prepare him that it's not going to be a 3-year-old playmate, but a baby who won't be able to play for a while. He'll be 3 and 3 months at least by the time the baby arrives, so I think he can be a bit of a helper. He's grown up a lot lately and it's definitely time for him to stop being an only child. :)

Q) Do you hope/think it's a boy or a girl?
A) Honestly, I'm fine either way. I'd love a girl and all the fun new experiences that would come with it, but it would also be awesome for Ryan to have a playmate, plus we have tons of boy clothes and toys already.  Right now I'm thinking it's a boy, but I never really had a good feeling with Ryan and was actually thinking girl at the end. Adam thinks it's a girl and he'd be equally happy with either.