May 15, 2011: How we found out about Baby Moser

On a Sunday night, I was in my bathroom and noticed that I had two remaining home pregnancy tests when I had previously thought there was only one left. It was a couple of days early to test, but since I had two left I figured I’d go ahead and use one right then. After I did my part, I immediately cleaned off the plastic stick and held it up in the light. The horizontal line appeared right away and so did the vertical test line, but nothing else. I let the disappointment sink in, and I set the stick on the counter while I went to wash my hands and brush my teeth. When I was done I glanced over at it again, and I could hardly believe my eyes. Now there was also a vertical line making a big fat plus sign!!!

I was so shocked because I didn’t feel any different than how I normally feel. I really thought that I’d just feel magically different somehow when I became pregnant - that I would intuitively just know that I was, and the test would merely confirm it. Once the moment of disbelief had passed and I triple-checked the stick to make sure it wasn’t just my eyes playing tricks on me, I went in search of Phil.

I found him in the garage, where the attic ladder was pulled down and he was tossing empty boxes up. I heard that he was on the phone, so I tried to be patient and allow him to finish his conversation. Unfortunately, I soon realized that he was entangled in a very long and boring-sounding conversation with his dad. I had my proof stuck in the waistband of my pajama pants and I just wanted to wave it in front of him so he’d know! However, I thought that wouldn’t be the most “special” memory so I held off.

For about the next 15 minutes I tried to motion him into the unused bedroom (now a nursery in the works) and act like I needed his help organizing some of the junk and unpacked boxes we had piled in there from our move just a few weeks prior. He kept looking more and more annoyed and tried to indicate through motions that we could just take the dogs on a walk while he kept talking with his dad. We were having a near-argument through merely waving hands in the air. Then I decided to text him:

Me (8:51 PM) - Can u please end your convo ASAP? Not trying to be rude.
Phil (8:52 PM) - He’s talking about Mema.
Me (8:53 PM) - Please?

Finally, a minute or two later, I heard him say, “Uh... Dad? Dad? I’m sorry, I have to go, can I call you back about this in a little while? …. Ok. Bye.” and then he came around the corner from the family room into the bedroom hallway yelling in a loud voice with drawn-out words, and I quote, “Oh my freeeeeaking goodness! What is so important??” Very uncharacteristic of Phil to get so annoyed with me.

Now, here is where I *almost* tried to play around a little bit. I was thinking that I would say, “Oh - I need your help straightening up this room!” and he’d say, “Right now? That’s why I had to interrupt my phone call?” and I’d reply, “Yes! We only have 9 months to get it ready, and the clock is ticking!”

However, I decided that the best-case scenario would be that I’d get a cute chuckle out of him, whereas the worst-case scenario is would be that I’d accidentally goad him into an actual fight, since he was obviously pretty irritated already. It wasn’t worth the risk! So I threw cuteness out the window, and in response to his question, I gave him a huge smile, and while waltzing towards him, yelled in an equally loud yet sing-songy voice, “We’re having a baaaaaby! I’m pregnant!”

I will never forget the instant change in his expression! I can't remember a time when I have seen him smile so big! We spent the rest of the evening laughing about his instant mood change and talking excitedly about our much-anticipated little blessing.

Fear

When I used to think about having children, I would become really apprehensive about how much it was going to hurt. Nowadays my perspective has changed a little bit. I'm not really worried about the pain. I actually think I have a pretty high tolerance for it, which is good, since I'm planning a home birth with no drugs.

This is my single biggest fear: WHAT IF MY BELLY BUTTON POPS OUT??????

Impatience is my middle name

Last week when we were at the doctor's appointment and they said they could do an ultrasound and tell us the gender, guess who was jumping up and down and begging Phil to "forget about my silly beach plan - let's just find out RIGHT NOW!!!"

So we did! And we're having a little baby boy!!!

I hope our son will look a lot like this cutie pie in a year or so...


Right now it's too hard to tell if he looks like anyone, other than a little skeleton! But he's our sweet precious beautiful baby and we love him!

Finding out!

I caved. I just don't think I can wait until the end of January to know the first tidbit of information about our sweet baby! We're going to find out!

We have a doctor's appointment on August 31st. However, I don't think I want the ultrasound technician to be a part of our special moment. Therefore, we're going to bring a card and an envelope and ask her to write it down (if she can tell).

In October, we're taking our "babymoon" vacation to Puerto Rico. We'll be there on Phil's 31st birthday, so the plan is that we will find a secluded spot on the beach that day and open the card!

To find out or not to find out?

We're approaching that time where it would be possible to find out our baby's gender via ultrasound. I have an appointment in about 3 weeks.

Back in May when we first found out that we were expecting, I couldn't wait to get to 20 weeks so I could know that first tidbit of information about who this baby is. Then a number of people told me about how they didn't find out in advance, and how it was truly life's most amazing surprise. I started to wonder if finding out the baby's gender in advance would feel like peeking at my presents before Christmas.

We're still not 100% certain but I think we're leaning towards letting it be a delivery-room surprise. I don't think it will be any inconvenience not to know in advance, since I want to have as many neutral, re-usable baby things as possible. I think it will be more memorable to let the baby make its own little announcement, rather than hearing the news from an ultrasound technician.

We'll see if I can hold my resolve when I'm actually at the doctor's office, having the ultrasound, knowing that the technician probably already knows and I don't.

Our house and its inhabitants

I guess I should pick up back in February, when we were buying our house. We bought said house. We love it!

We moved in on April 2. Just a couple of weeks later, we had to rush to Amarillo to say our final good-byes to Phil's Mema, the most amazing woman I've ever known. We miss her so much.

We came home from Amarillo with two extra passengers - Rocky and Sugar, Mema's pugs. She adored them. We adored her, and we love pugs. Thus it only made sense for us to take them with us and become a 4-pug household.

A few weeks later, we became a 3-pug household when Sugar passed away. She was very old and I guess she just didn't want to live without Mema. Rocky has adjusted to all of the changes just fine. He gets a walk every morning, so he's looking more trim these days and has a lot of energy.

Speaking of looking trim, my own physique is headed in the opposite direction soon. And I'm actually excited about that. Our newest household resident should be arriving at the very end of January. We think this onesie says it well - we know that Mema is smiling down on us from heaven...

House fever

Our lease on our little 2-bedroom apartment ends May 15, and we have to give 60 days' notice regarding whether we are going to extend it or not. For the most part, I really like the apartment and its residents. It's very convenient to Phil's office - less than a mile. However, I'm ready to have a little more space - the kitchen is small, the master bedroom is small, the bathrooms are and all the closets are small. Plus, we have some college girls living above us who have been more and more frequently having their boyfriends over for some ridiculously noisy 2 AM escapades directly above our bedroom. All of these factors have me more than ready to find a house!

I've been scouring the real estate listings in detail ever since we moved here as we tried to decide what area of town we wanted. I have looked through hundreds upon hundreds of listings. We finally found "the one" and are making an offer today! I can't believe how fast it happened, but everything seems perfect - the timing is right, the price is right, the house has all the features we want (and more!), and we're ready to lock into a contract.

We should hear back from the seller's agent by 5 pm tomorrow!