That's right, I said it.

I never thought I would actually use this with my students but seeing the reaction and results I got, I just may say it again!  

I demonstrated how to do a stationary leap and land on the ground today as I was teaching pep squad their competition jazz dance.  Some of the girls were being SO lazy and would jump about 2 centimeters off the ground and just crouch down instead of actually going to the floor.  Ugh.  I was so irritated that I turned around and said, "Excuse me.  I just did it full out and I'm pregnant.  If I can do it I'm pretty sure you can do it too."  

It worked!  No more lazy freshmen.

Thank you!

What a blessing it has been to finally be able to share our exciting news with everyone!  I told my dance team on Friday, we made the announcement at church yesterday and also posted it on facebook last night (because it's not official until it's "facebook official") and the support and excitement has been amazing.  We feel so loved and, more importantly, we feel so confident bringing this baby into the world knowing that it will be surrounded with love from friends and family everywhere.  

It has also been so reassuring to me to hear from women who have been through a pregnancy before that everything I am feeling is more than normal.  One common thread that all of their stories have that I cannot wait for is how much better the second trimester is!  It can't come soon enough at this point!  

I have also been so blessed by the reactions of all of the "kids" in our lives.  From my dance team girls to the jr. and sr. high students at church, they have had the best reactions of anyone! We are definitely not going to have a shortage of babysitters any time soon :)  We are so happy to be able to share this news with you because you are all going to be considered big sisters and brothers come July.

Thank you again for all of your love, support and prayers!  How wonderful it is to feel so loved!

Bean's First Pictures

Today it all finally became real.  I'll admit that my number one worry when going to see my OB for the first time today was that she would tell me I wasn't really pregnant.  I know that 4 positive tests aren't wrong, but hey, anything can happen!  Well, she did the sonogram today and there was one (thank goodness) little baby in there, right between the X's on the screen and the little flashing light was it's heartbeat.  

Instead of calling the baby "it" for the next few months, we have decided to call it Bean (because that's what it will look like for a while).  So, Bean will be here in July but until then you can check out Bean's first pictures right here.  

 

Is that a second line?!

So, it was Monday, November 10th and I had been feeling a little funny.  I always went to Segue on Monday nights but that night I just didn't feel up to it.  It wasn't that I felt sick, I just felt tired and not quite like my self.  At about 8:30 that night I decided to take a pregnancy test, not because I really thought I was pregnant but because I thought I wasn't and taking the test would just ease my mind and take that possibility out of the equation. 

 You all know how a pregnancy test works so I'll skip ahead a little bit.  I was looking at the stick, fully anticipating seeing only one line, when a second line ever so faintly started to appear.  It was so pale that I thought my mind was playing tricks on me.  I immediately text messaged Nils to come home.  Luckily we live across the street from the church so it wouldn't be a long trek.  At first he was hesitant because they had 100 people at Segue that night and he didn't want to leave.  I explained to him that I had taken a test and that I needed him to come home ASAP.  He was home in about 30 seconds, huffing and puffing trying to catch his breath because he had run the entire way.  

I was frantically trying to look up on the internet what a faint line meant.  Is that pregnant or not?  This was all new to me!  Everything I was looking up said pregnant but I still wasn't sure if I could believe it.  All Nils wanted me to do was take another test so he kept bringing me water so I would have to go to the restroom again.  I tried to tell him I had nothing left in me but he just wouldn't accept that as an answer!  I promised him that I would keep drinking water if he ran to CVS to get the kind of test that simply said "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant".  I was done with trying to figure out the lines!

As you have probably figured out by now, the test said "Pregnant" right away!  We went through all of the emotions; scared, happy, worried, excited . . . you name it, we felt it.  I mean, I just started a new job, we're building a new house, can we make this all work?  Nils assured me we could and I whole heartedly believe him.  We had been talking and praying about when to have a baby and we could never come up with a good time, there always seemed to be a reason to wait.  Now this is God's perfect time and we couldn't be happier!

We are slowly telling people about the pregnancy so I thought it would be a good time to start blogging.  I have my first doctor's appointment on Thursday so once we get a good report from her then we will feel better about making the pregnancy more public.  Plus, we are waiting to tell Nils' mom until we fly up to Missouri to tell her in person.  So, if you know Jan, please keep it a secret!

I am so lucky not to have experienced any morning sickness thus far but I have been incredibly fatigued and cold.  I almost feel as if I can't keep my eyes open some days and I'll fall asleep every hour or so if given the chance.  It really is a bad feeling because you feel so lazy and just not like yourself but I know it's nothing I can help.  I keep showing Nils things on the internet to back up my claims so he knows I'm not just milking this whole pregnancy thing and making things up.  He has been an amazing husband and has already gone into "daddy" mode, taking care of me and the Baby Bug and getting me anything I need.  I could not ask for a better husband!

So, I don't know what this pregnancy will bring but I will try and keep everyone updated on all of the doctor's appointments, cravings and weird things that go on with me for the next 7 or so months.  We are so excited to enter this next stage of our lives and we are thrilled to have you traveling along side of us!