How it All Began

Isn't it exciting that Tim and I are going to be parents?!!! I will spare you the obvious details about how this baby came to be, but I wanted to share about when we found out I was pregnant and how we shared the big news with our families. Last August we decided to put the bc on the shelf and see if we could conceive a child. Our hope was to get pregnant in the fall so that we could enjoy a birth during the following summer when schedules are a little more lax for us and our families. September and October went by without success, so our last chance at a summer baby was approaching. Although it had only been two months, the waiting was still driving me crazy!

We had wanted to have some special news to share when our families came over to Pullman for Thanksgiving, but it was just too soon to tell - or so we thought! With one set of parents at our house and a mom and brother on the way for the big holiday, we thought that the sickness I had felt the night before may be an indication that we should take a test. (Mind you, since those things are so expensive, we normally would have waited until just the right moment, but we went ahead anyway.) So while Tim was putting the turkey in the oven, I was in the bathroom with a HUGE surprise! I snuck him into our room to tell him the news and we both were in shock. Since we hadn't had time to come up with a creative way to tell the family, we made the decision to wait until we went home for Christmas (only 3 weeks later). I have to say that it actually wasn't that difficult to keep the news to ourselves and it was so sweet to share knowing glances with Timmy throughout the weekend. Once everyone had left we went to the store for another test and confirmed what we knew to be true. Now we could finally plan our big reveal!

Before our Christmas break began, I purchased two baby bibs, one for my in-laws and one for my mom. These were to be their special "pre-Christmas" gifts that would suprise them with the news that they were going to be grandparents. Once we arrived on the west side of the state, my mom's house was our first destination. We gave her a bib that said "What happens at Grandma's stays at Grandma's" and her first reaction was only somewhat enthusiastic because she though it was something from her grand-dog(!). After opening it all the way she realized it was actually intended for a human grandchild and she asked excitedly if she was going to be a grandma. Her reaction from that moment was absolutely priceless and I will never forget it! Let's just say there was some jumping, some hugging, some crying and the words, "this is the best Christmas present EVER!"

The story of how Tim's parents found out is quite different, but very memorable as well! Their story actually begins a few days before we left Pullman for Tacoma. After being gone to the store for longer than expected and unknowingly missing a few calls from Tim, I come home and am given the caring advice that "pregnant wives should not go out in the snow and not answer their phones." Once the conversation had ended, it was realized that Tim's (fancy) iPhone may have accidentally dialed his dad's number. I became a little worried that they may have heard the words "pregnant" and "wife" over that call, but his dad called back and made no mention of it. Fast forward to the Saturday we drove down to Tacoma from Everett in a snow storm of epic proportions. Once we finally arrived at our meeting destination - Starbucks, of course - we were ready to give them their "gift." After a few excited, but not shocked exclamations of glee, Tim's mom presented me with a gift as well that happened to be a gift card to Babies R Us! They KNEW! We laughed and swapped stories of that fated phone call. Our conversation had actually recorded on his dad's voicemail and only showed up on his phone the next day. They told us how they had listened to it quite a few times and how they thought it may have been Tim's creative way of telling them the news. Needless to say, they were still ecstatic to find out for sure that they were going to be grandparents!