Aaron's Surprise 30th Birthday Party!

I've tried several times over the past 2 months to surprise Aaron with either concert tickets or a getaway trip for just the two of us. I failed miserably at both "surprise" concepts. Well, I couldn't let his 30th birthday come and go without any sort of hupla- thus, my final attempt at a surprise. And it worked! I scheduled a surprise birthday party for Aaron 2 weeks after his actual birthday on September 27th at the Loft in Bloomington. About 38 or so of our friends and co-workers were able to join us. With the help of our friends, Matt and Ellyn, the night was a success, everyone had a good time and Aaron was surprised!

Finally!

One of the main reasons for starting this blog page is so that we can share with all of you the most exciting thing that's going on in our life right now- the blessing of expecting our first baby. As most of you know, we had a miscarriage in May of 2006 and were extremely devastated by it. However, through all of that, we learned many things about each other and God's plan. After trying for almost 14 months, God finally blessed us with a second pregnancy. We are currently at the end of 12 weeks and so far, everything seems to be going as planned. We found out on Thursday, August 16th, that we were pregnant. We were so excited but scared to death at the same time. Our doctor wanted me to immediately go in for blood work to check my levels because of the last time. The results came back the same day- the numbers were perfect! In fact, they were extremely high. The nurse warned us that usually when they see numbers that high, it indicates a multiples pregnancy. She said that obviously, she couldn't be sure, but she told us to start preparing ourselves for the possibility of 2 or 3! Wow. That was a shock! I went back twice over the next 5 days for repeated blood work and each time the results came back phenomenal. We went in for our first ultrasound on Wednesday, September 5th. When the technician entered the room, she said, "Ok, I saw your chart and I'm fully expecting to find at least 2 if not 3 babies today based on your numbers." Prior to that appointment, we had discussed such possibilites and thought that twins would be work, but we could manage. One for each of us. But triplets? We were outnumbered! We also knew that God would give to us what we could handle and had a peace about whatever the outcome might be. At the ultrasound, she only found 1 baby and assured us that no one was "hiding". She was also able to see the baby's heartbeat represented as a white, blinking light on the screen. The baby's heart was already beating at 118/min. at only 6.5 weeks old! We were ecstatic!The next few weeks were filled with a whole gammet of emotions for both of us. It's amazing how your whole life changes from foods to eat, conversations had and money spent! Everything is about this baby! Fine by us. Oh, and just a small detail: our due date is April 27th, 2008.

September 12th, 2007: Aaron's 30th Birthday

Aaron's parents were able to be with us from Dallas for Aaron's 30th birthday. They were here for about 9 or 10 days and were a huge help around the house from cleaning to small projects. Aaron's dad helped him to install a ceiling fan in the baby's room and a chair rail. It looks great!

For Aaron's birthday dinner, we went to Lucca Grill, his favorite restaurant in town. They're famous for their a la Baldini pizza.

July 2007: Vacation in Dallas

This past July, we were able to take some vacation and head to Dallas, TX to visit with Aaron's family. We drove the 13 hours so that we could take our dogs with us. It was a great time for all of us. We mostly lounged around, shopped, ate and swam. We were fortunate enough to be able to be there for Luke's (Aaron's nephew) 6th birthday and his baptism. Our dogs had a great time with all of the kids and attention and of course- the swimming pool. Bailey (our female lab) absolutely loves the water and it's hard to keep her out. Gunner (our male lab) on the other hand, is petrified of water. Or I should say, "was". We tried all week to get him in the water by throwing his toy in or pushing him in but he wasn't having it. Finally on the last day we were there, apparently, we had pushed enough and Aaron gently coaxed him in off the step. And that was that. We couldn't keep either one of them out! All in all we had a great trip and plan on heading back in December.