Week 4

I found out I was pregnant somewhere in the middle of week 4. (I believe it was Monday June 29th).

Day 4 - I had had an inkling all day that I might be pregnant, despite the fact that I had had one minor time of spotting the previous Friday. So I went home after work and took a pregnancy test. It was one that if you weren't pregnant, the window would stay blank, but if you were, there would be a blue line. Well, I had a VERY VERY VERY light, VERY VERY VERY thin (was it even blue?!) line. So, as you might imagine, I was excited, but not entirely convinced!

So, before my honey got home, I ran to CVS, and picked up a digital pregnancy test (one that would say PREGNANT or NOT PREGNANT) so there'd be no question. Micah called while I was waiting the customary 2 minutes to look at my results. So then, my heart started racing! I had a plan for how I wanted to tell him - and tonight was not the night!

So, I rushed him off the phone, knowing I had about 10 minutes to hide the evidence. I quickly discovered I was pregnant, sent up a short prayer of thanksgiving, snapped a picture, and stashed everything in my night stand!

Day 5 - Do you know how hard it is to keep a secret from your best friend?! Especially one this big?! I went to work, practically DYING in anticipation of the end of the day!

Once 3 o'clock rolled around, I headed off to Walgreens to have my picture developed (on a disposable camera; how convenient.) The kind lady at the desk informed me that they probably wouldn't be able to have it done in an hour, but if I wanted to check back at 5, they'd probably have it completed. I sure hope she didn't misread my disappointment as annoyance. I thanked her, and went home, settling in for another evening of NOT SHARING THE NEWS I WAS BURSTING WITH!!

Later that evening, I was able to go back (I believe Micah was babysitting some of our nephews that night) and pick up my pictures from Walgreens. To my major disappointment this time, the picture didn't really come out. You could tell it was a pregnancy test, but the result was not obvious.


So, I headed home once again, armed with a second disposable camera, and attempted to take yet another picture. But, when I pulled out the stashed pregnancy test - it was blank. Apparently digital tests only hold their result for 24 hours. This is when I decided to give up and make use of the picture I already had. I probably could have tried to take another test, but there was no guarantee that the next picture would turn out any better.

Day 6 - FINALLY!! The day is here to tell my honey! I run off to work, super excited to get my picture and note to the dad-to-be into an inter office envelope by the earliest mail run of 6:30am. If all goes as planned, he'll have it sitting in his chair when he gets to work at 8:30am.

But, all does NOT go as planned (has anyone caught on to a theme in this story?!). The day goes sloooooowly on, and still no word from my honey. Surely he'd call after receiving such a package. Surely he wouldn't leave me hanging ALL DAY. He can't ge THAT busy.

As I'm walking out the door at the end of my day, I can't stand it anymore. I call him, and must have seemed really frustrated. "What do you MEAN you haven't gotten any mail today?!" "I sent you something at 6:30am this morning, are you SURE you didn't miss it?"

So much for the surprise factor! :)

So, my sweet, completely caught off guard hubby, (I'm sure he was wondering why I earth I was so frustrated!) chased down the mail room attendant, and begged him to look for anything that might be addressed to him. He found it, and called me back super excited like 3 minutes later. FINALLY!!

So, on July 1st, 2 whole days after I discovered the news, my hubby is finally let in on my little secret, and I add week 4 to one of the longest weeks of my pregnancy, thus far!

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

...and Alligators and Giraffes, oh my!






These are a few pictures of the crib bedding I got a couple weeks ago for a whole $8.60! I was super pumped!!

Now all I need to do is register for solid colored sheets, and find cute wall hangings and accessories to go with my "zoo" theme. Those of you who are good at craigslist or window shopping online, keep an eye peeled, if you don't mind! :)

A sign of the times

Would you believe that our biggest concern when we were telling people we were pregnant was that the news would make it out onto Facebook before we had a chance to tell everyone ourselves?

It's so weird to have to worry about that! But, we told our family on a Friday, our friends Saturday, and our church body on Sunday. Then, we wanted to send a few funny e-mails to spread the news at work on Monday, but we didn't want our co-workers to have already heard. So we actually begged the members of our church body not to congratulate us on Facebook until Monday afternoon! :) Isn't that pathetic?

Anyway, I thought you might like to read the letters my dear hubby Micah wrote to our co-workers! They're pretty entertaining!

To my co-workers:

Dear co-workers,

My husband and I recently found out we are expecting a very important guest, who plans to arrive in March and will stay with us indefinitely. We have a lot to do to get ready for our guest, so we'll be very busy! Because of this, I have turned in my resignation notice, and my last day will be Friday, August 28.

I have really enjoyed working with such a wonderful group of people, and I will miss you all. As the day of our guest's arrival draws nearer, though, I'm sure I will be very busy with getting things ready. We are planning on preparing a special room just for our guest, and we will also be trying to do other things to create a homey atmosphere (this guest doesn't get out much and probably won't be used to spending a lot of time with people, so we will have to ease into our relationship). I have also heard that the guest may have trouble sleeping through the night, so we are going to try to make the room as comfortable as possible in order to establish a regular sleep schedule.

There will be a lot of stress, and I bet I will start eating more to help me handle the strain. In fact, I'm afraid I might start gaining weight at the rate of about a pound per week until the visit, but I have heard of a great weight-loss plan that allows a person to lose about 15-20 pounds in less than a day, so I am planning on trying that around the time the guest arrives. As you might imagine, it can take a few days to recover from such a strenuous weight-loss plan, so I am planning on some bed-rest right after the arrival.

We appreciate all the support you've shown us, and we'd like for you to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we prepare for this big event in our lives. It's a little bit intimidating to be welcoming a new person into our home, especially when we don't yet know the guest's name, or even if it will be a boy or a girl, but one thing is certain: we will love him or her very, very much. We'll be sure to let you know all about our little guest just as soon as (s)he arrives!

-Magen

To Micah's co-workers:

Team,

I just wanted to let you know before you hear elsewhere that Magen has been diagnosed with a medical condition which has made it necessary for her to terminate her employment with our company.

The medical condition is known as primigravida. Essentially, it involves a microscopic organism that nests in an unsuspecting host and grows gradually more and more powerful over time. The host often experiences nausea, mood swings, and inexplicable cravings (all of which are driven by the chemical imbalances caused by the organism). As the organism develops, it begins to sap the vital nutrients from the host’s body and even hampers the host’s immune system. The organism’s growth is almost exponential, causing the host to gain weight at a phenomenal rate – especially toward the terminal stages of the condition.

The prognosis suggests that the next few months will be full of most of the above symptoms. However, there is some hope. Our specialist anticipates that around the beginning of next March, Magen’s body will naturally expel the organism, leaving her in some pain, but with a lovely little bundle of joy to make the whole thing worthwhile.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers as we deal with this life-changing event.

-Micah

Link Love

I have thoroughly enjoyed (and will continue to for several more days, I'm sure!) catching up on all my friends blogs! I've never really been completely caught up since before I gave up the internet for lent. And, because I'm a weirdo, I've had a LOT to read.

Some highlights:

Joy posts weekly pictures and updates on her little girl, Hannah. She's pretty stinkin' adorable!

Rachel always makes me laugh, but recently it's been because she posts about her hatred of movies A LOT. This has got me wondering about myself. I can probably count on one hand the movies I've not liked. Is this because I'm just that much less picky? I don't think that's true. I think it's probably more realistic to say that I'm much MORE picky - and that I don't sit down to watch a movie unless I KNOW I'll like it. So, what does that say about me? Do I use my time wisely? Or, am I not very adventurous? It's at least something to think about!

Money Saving Mom has been fun to catch up on, as well. I don't go back and read every one of her posts since they're mostly outdated if you don't get to them right away. But, lately, I've been intrigued by all the free samples you can get and have recently tried out paper towels and toothpaste. It's like Christmas getting little packages in the mail all the time!

Some others are favorites to catch up on because they always have fun things to share about their kids. So, if you feel like giggling, hop over to: Michelle's, Jessie's, Shawna's and Rachel's!

I've got lots more to catch up on, but I sure don't mind!! :)

Cleaning Marathon results

Well, I didn't quite make it.

By noon, I had finished my quiet time and completed the closet, family room, and packing. I also had the kitchen mostly done (waiting for the dish washer to finish), the bedroom almost complete (waiting for the sheets to come out of the dryer) and the bathroom was only lacking a clean floor.

So, after taking a much needed break for lunch, I jumped back in!

And, I would say everything went pretty well! Within another hour, I had the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, fridge and basement floors done. The only thing that is not complete are the upstairs floors, but those are technically on my list for Wednesday, so I'll get to them.


Overall, I consider this a success!!

Enjoy your long weekend!

Cleaning Marathon

I have a goal this morning, as I prepare our house for visitors, and pack up for a weekend at camp.

I would like to:

1) Have my quiet time
2) Reorganize my hall closet (b/c until last night, it was covered in dust from our living room project)
3) Clean up the kitchen
5) Straighten our bedroom and wash our bedding
5) Straighten the family room (which currently holds all the contents of our hall closet)
6) Pack for the weekend, and load up the car
7) Clean the bathroom
8) Clean out the fridge
9) Sweep and vacuum the floors

The trick is: I'd like to have all of this done by noon! I'll report back! :)