Pregnancy Files: {Telling my family the news}

Keeping a big life changing secret from my family was so hard so I wanted to make sure the announcement was special. We already had a family trip planned to visit my sister and her husband so I knew that was when I would tell my brother and sister, but I wanted to share it with my parents first. As soon as we saw the heartbeat at my 8 week appointment we picked up dinner and 2 balloons and headed to my parent's house. I held the pink balloon and Drew held the blue balloon and we knocked on the door. When my parents came out we were holding the balloons and they were ecstatic. My mom literally jumped up and down. I am so excited for my parents to be grandparents! Ah!

A few weeks later we took a family trip to South Bend to see my sister and brother in law and that is where we planned to tell the rest of my family.

I requested that my brother in law make us Chinese for dinner because oh my word he cooks the best, most authentic Chinese food ever. He made us Chinese pork chops, egg rolls and bak choy. Little did they know I had a special something for dessert...

All through dinner I was so anxious and as soon as everyone's plate was cleared I passed out the fortune cookies I had bought. I watched as my sister and brother opened their cookies. My brother in law was actually the first to read the message inside, but he waited for my sister and brother to read it themselves before the celebrations began. It was absolutely perfect.

Fortune cookies from: Lucky Girl Fortunes

Pregnancy Files: {The Bump Week 15}

I'm playing catch up on my bump posts. This post was actually written a few weeks ago and is not in real time, but I don't want to miss out capturing these memories.

Best moment this week: Baby's first wedding extravaganza! One of my best friends got married this week and I had the honor of being a bridesmaid. I was so excited that I had a little bump to show off at the wedding. While I was completely exhausted after the wedding weekend, it was so much fun to see some friends I hadn't seen and celebrate a beautiful marriage.

Food cravings: I actually did have chicken this week, which I have completely been avoiding, but it was breaded. Plain old chicken still sounds completely unappealing to me. This week I've been wanting lots and lots of cantalope. Yum.

Movement: I absolutely can't wait for this to happen...should be starting to feel a flutter in the next few weeks.

Symptoms: Stuffy nose. Who knew that being pregnant could make you have more mucus? Gross right? I never knew...now I do.

Nursery: My secret Nursery board on Pinterest is filling up quickly. We are so excited about our theme and the projects we have planned. We hope to start crossing some things off our nursery checklist over the next few weeks!

Prayer for Baby:
Dear little one,
I can't wait to hear your heartbeat again tomorrow. Every time I hear it I thank God for you. You have already brought so much joy into my life. I hope one thing you can learn from me someday is that no matter what happens in life or what uncertainties you face, that God is with you. I already love you so much.
Love,
Your Mama

Lord, I am so thankful for this life growing inside me. We have had so much going on that has caused us to feel troubled, but we are counting our blessings everyday. Thank you especially for this blessing. Amen. 

Psalms 27:14
"Wait on the Lord. Be strong and take heart and wait on the Lord."

Pregnancy Files: {How to fake drink at a Bachelorette Party}

After we found out I was pregnant, Drew and I knew we wanted to keep it a secret for a while. At 9 weeks I had a Bachelorette party to go to for one of my best friends and I had to think long and hard about how to hide the fact that I was pregnant while surrounded by alcohol. Here are a few tips to hiding your pregnancy from your girlfriends:
1. Non-alcoholic wine...ARIEL or Target has a brand called FRE
2. If you are out with friends, find a very nice bartender and ask him/her to make you a non-alcoholic drink that looks like the real deal. Soda water, a little cranberry and a lime does the trick nicely.
3. Find a wingman...I told my friend Courtney since we were riding together so she could help cover for me. When we did the champagne toast I knew it would be a dead giveaway if I didn't take champagne so Courtney generously offered to guzzle hers then we switched glasses so I just held the empty glass. Genius right?

4. Don't draw attention to yourself by NOT getting at least one "drink."
5. Play it cool

We had such a fun day celebrating my friend Bekah and I was able to keep my secret. We started off eating outside at one of my favorite places, The Bon Bonerie Cafe. Then we shopped, relaxed in our suite at the Netherland Plaza, had dinner at Anchor and went out on the town. A fun evening!

Pregnancy Files: {Telling Drew he was going to be a Dad}

One of my absolute favorite days so far this year was Valentine's Day. I already love the extra excuse to celebrate love, but it is also the day I told Drew he was going to be a Dad. I had taken a positive pregnancy test 2 days earlier and decided to wait to share with him until Valentine's day since we already had a romantic evening planned. We went to dinner and I was so anxious to get home and give him his "Valentine present." You can read about the rest of our evening (minus the pregnancy reveal here)

Earlier that month a local scrapbook store was going out of business so my friend Alison and I spent an afternoon scrapbooking and that's where I created Drew's gift, which I turned into the pregnancy reveal. I decided to make an Adventure book like in the Pixar movie UP that included pictures from all our adventures together. I started with a picture from our wedding day, then our honeymoon and pictures of places we have traveled together and then I ended with a picture of the positive pregnancy test...our next big adventure! He was (and is) so excited to be a Dad!

Then we had to take the typical "yay we're pregnant, here's the stick she peed on to prove it" pictures.

Our current guest room and future nursery of Baby R

It was a very memorable Valentine's day. One that will change our lives forever. XOXO

Pregnancy Files: {Having the "are we ready to be parents" talk}

I remember exactly where we were when we decided we were ready to start trying to expand our little family. I was about to turn 28, it was a gorgeous summer evening and it happened. I brought up the baby timeline. There's no magic number of years to be married or x amount of money you should have in the bank in order to be "ready." Before that summer, I had never been struck with baby fever, but it had hit me and Drew was ready too, so that night at a pub up the street as we sipped on beers and soaked up the sun on the patio, we decided it was go time. We were ready to start our family.

After our first ultrasound in March we thought it was only fitting to go back to the same spot where we decided we were ready to be parents, but this time after just seeing the heartbeat of OUR child. It was a wonderful and very surreal feeling. It was really happening...

For all you Mama's out there...do you remember having the "baby" talk? Were you and your husband on the same page?

Pregnancy Files: {The Bump Week 14}

Thank you so much for your sweet words on yesterday's post. I've been so anxious to document anything and everything baby/pregnancy related so I'm playing catch up on a few bump posts. I want to be able to look back and remember these precious days so please excuse a few of my posts that may not be in real time.

Best moment this week: I am finally getting some of my energy back! I am still going to bed super early, but I feel much more energetic during the day. Thank you Jesus!

Food cravings: My food cravings haven't been too crazy so far minus the desire for peanut butter and cheese...together. The main thing I have wanted is Chipotle. I could eat there every day and baby is a happy little burrito. One thing I haven't been able to stomach so far is chicken. I don't know why, but it does not sound good to me at all.

Movement: Not yet. Supposedly that happens between week 16-22. I can't wait for the day to feel my little one move. Ah so exciting!

Symptoms: Tired, tired, tired and some sore parts. The girls are feeling pretty sore these days, but that's to be expected right?

Nursery: Drew and I made a list this week of short term and long term projects to complete before our little one arrives in October. Most of our list has to do with the nursery and we can't wait to start tackling projects starting with cleaning out the nursery closet.

Prayers for Baby:

Dear Peanut,
We have been praying for you and are so thankful you are showing signs of being a healthy little one. There has been so much chaos going on in my life and you are my happy place. I go to bed every night with a smile on my face because of you. You are already a blessing to me.
Love, Your Mama

Lord, Thank you for blessing me with this gift. Help me to be thankful everyday and to seek you when I am worried. Amen. 

Romans 8:28
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him..."
 

And since I'm playing catch up...here are my week 8-13 "bump" pictures:

A new adventure! {Baby makes 3}

I am over the moon to finally share our big news today. Our little family (and my belly) is growing. Baby Renner will be arriving in October! I know I've been MIA lately because honestly all I've been able to think about is baby this and baby that and when I did want to actually post something I was just too tired. So in between feeling nauseous, being extremely tired and excited, brainstorming fun ways to reveal our news and dreaming about our new life with a baby, we've been a little busy.

I've had 12 amazing years of adventuring with Drew by my side and we are so excited about our new adventure together as parents! God is good and we are so incredibly blessed. How I told Drew, how we told our families and some fun baby projects are coming your way soon!