I am thankful...

Complete and utter laughter....one of the best gifts given to us on this earth :)

Thanksgiving this year was awesome. Not only was it awesome spending time with our families, which I always love, I had many new blessings to reflect on. Well, not just new. Old and new blessings. But blessings they are.

I am thankful for....

Mom's mashed potatoes...
My husband who is so endearing with his geekiness...
Laughing loudly and sometimes uncontrollably...
Warm clothes, warm home, and love from families...
My job....as hard as it may be at times...God has truly given me this blessing...
Wonderful friends that make me laugh...
Music....both old and new....o, how I love it...
Apple pie....
My crazy and loving pugs....one that has allergies...
Big jars of smelly candles that I can buy on sale at Walgreens (today only) 3 for $7.99
This wonderful little miracle that is growing inside of me...

Belly pics begin

I decided to have my parents take my first belly pic BEFORE I ate Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. The picture is not good and it looks like I have a larger bump than I "really" do. Anyway, happy viewing. 11 weeks! I'm feeling a lot better now...nausea has subsided significantly and when I lay flat I feel such a wonderful little baby bump...an absolutely indescribable experience.

New Clothes: Bless you, Ashley

So my sister sent me a box of wonderful maternity pants and shirts yesterday. BLESS YOU. The pants are so comfty, I thought I was in heaven when I first tried them on. I am enjoying the jeans with stretchy waist right now.
Soooo much more comfortable.

8 week appt

Monday November 10th marked our first doctor appointment!! We met our Certified Nurse Midwife, who I believe will be wonderful! She seemed very knowledgeable, tender, and experienced.
This appointment was AMAZING.....mostly cause we got to have our first ultrasound, which was totally unexpected!! She zoomed right in and we got to see the heart actually beating! It was the most amazing experience I've ever had, I think.
Even though I have had some symptoms of being pregnant, the ultrasound made it so "real" for us.
Wow. Every time I think of it, I am just so amazed by God's goodness to us!

How we found out

So, I've been thinking of stuff to put on this blog and thought it might be fun to share the moment that we found out that I was pregnant. Well, we decided in August that we were ready to expand the Strickland family line. I had told myself numerous times not to get my hopes up, that it really might take some time for us to actually get pregnant. I did not want to be disappointed.

So, October 5th. The DAY.

The day or two before that I had started feeling pretty tired (more than usual for sure) and my boobies had been extra sore. (TMI, sorry) I wasn’t due for my special “friend” Flo to arrive for another 5 days, but I decided to take a pregnancy test just for the heck of it. Honestly expecting a negative, I took it and lo and behold, it showed a positive.
This was after work….I had just arrived home and Bryan had not made it home from work yet. Alas, he was not there when I got the first positive result. I set the test on the counter and kept going back every few minutes to check on it to make sure it was what it said it was.

And I paced.
A lot.

Bryan got home and I was just about bursting with the news, but didn’t want to overwhelm him as soon as he walked in the door. So, he set his stuff down and started going through the mail, still with his coat on and I decided I couldn’t hold it in anymore.
I walked up to him and said “I think I have news.”
Bryan, of course not having any idea what I was going to say said, “What is it?”
I said, “I took a test…..and it says I’m pregnant.”
He said “Are you sure?? That’s awesome!”
I said, “I’m not sure, cause I’ve just taken one and my period is not due for a few more days, so how about we take another test?”
So, I took another one and it only showed a faint positive.
Still sort of in shock, we decided this wasn’t a definitive answer and that I would take another test in the morning.

I did.
6 am.
Clear positive.

At that point we thought “Ok, this is awesome and this is really happening!”
I still took 2 more tests after that in upcoming days just to “make sure” they all confirmed the same thing. :)

We decided to keep the news to ourselves for a few days so we had time together to digest it and enjoy it as a couple. We went away to the beach that weekend to celebrate his birthday, talked, and started trying to accustom ourselves to becoming parents.

We are both ready for this journey and can’t wait! As hard as it will be at times, it is something we both know God has called us to, and we simply marvel in this wonderful creation He is forming inside of me. I’ve heard the expression “miracle of life” probably a trillion times, and have never really considered the wonder of it.
It truly is a miracle.
And a blessing.

The beginning of the journey

I never wanted to get into blogging cause I don't want it to suck my time. But, I figure now is a good time for me to start this, as we have some upcoming changes coming in our lives! Most namely, a baby Strickland.
We are SO excited about this! Yesterday we had our first doctor appointment, seeing the baby's heart beat! It was truly more than words can describe. We weren't expecting an ultrasound so soon, so it was a wonderful surprise.
We can't wait to see what is in store for us and our first baby Strickland.