Life Changing News

(Ok. Bare with me. This turned out longer than I had planned but I was behind on blogging and wanted to use this post to share something with you and also to document it all.)

If you follow me on Facebook or if you follow my sister-in-law on her blog, By God's Southern Grace, you might already have an indication of what I am about to post.

Judd and I feel so blessed to share some very exciting news.

We are expecting our first child!!! (Cast your vote on the baby's gender by leaving us a comment with your guess or respond to our poll on the top right of the page.)

I found out on an away game football Saturday (Nov. 9, 2013). Judd and I had already watched the Auburn vs. Tennessee game that afternoon. After the game, Judd walked over to the neighbor's house to watch some other games and to visit. While he was out, mostly on a whim, I decided to take a pregnancy test. Needless to say, I was very surprised and so thrilled with the results.

Being the planner that I am, and knowing that we were just starting to try, I had already planned out how I wanted to tell Judd. I had the materials prepared in advance. They were all themed for football season, so if things had not worked out in a few months I would have needed to start over with my decorations. It was all meant to be in every way I guess. :)

My original thought was that he would be in the house and I would need to put together the surprise in a place where he would not catch me in action. I thought I could sneak out to the car for a few minutes undetected.

Although he ended up being gone, I stuck with my original plan. Immediately after reading the results, I quickly grabbed my "telling Judd" folder of materials and ran outside to the car. I managed to get it all together and close the trunk before he came home. I sent him a text message about dinner as an excuse and luckily it only took him about 10 minutes to get home. That was such a long 10 minutes to me. My heart was racing. I was so happy and still kind of in disbelief. I couldn't wait to share this life hanging news with the love of my life.

Upon his arrival, I told Judd I had something that I needed his help with. Being the sweet husband that he is, he walked right out to help me. I've included below a couple of pictures of what he found.

Judd was in disbelief as well for about a second; however, once the news sunk in, he was elated.

I felt like we needed a second confirmation using a test that actually read the words "pregnant". The first test was the kind with two lines. We hopped in the car and headed to the pharmacy. We quickly bought a second test and shortly after, we saw this.

Our dreams literally came true before our eyes at those moments.

Since then, we've had several other really special times.

We had the joy of being able to share our big news with our family at and just after Thanksgiving. We tried really hard to be able to tell both sides of our family in person at the same time; although, travel schedules and holiday plans got in the way a bit. It ended up turning out just fine though.

We told my family first. We celebrated the holiday with them. Just before Thanksgiving dinner, following our Thanksgiving tradition of blessing the food and giving the thanks through a family prayer circle, each family member shared what he or she was thankful for this Thanksgiving. When it got to Judd, he shared that he and I were so glad to share some very special news with our family and that he was so thankful that he was finally going to get to know what it was like to be a daddy. About that time, everybody in the room lost it. It was a precious moment that I will never forget.

The following day, November 29, we got to share the news with Judd's parents since they were coming to Auburn for the Iron Bowl game. The 29th happened to also be Judd's dad's birthday. Judd sketched and water colored a special birthday card for his dad that featured Aubie the tiger, Auburn University's mascot, as a baby cub. It was precious. Inside, we wrote that we made him something special for his birthday. We, of course, meant another grandchild and the card itself. Judd's parents were so sweet and happy for us.

Skip forward another month to when we started sharing the news with friends. I had the pleasure of telling my dear friends, the fab, at our annual Christmas gift exchange party. I carried in my gift with the following tag attached. I placed it under the tree and waited for the girls to notice. It didn't take long. It is such a pleasure to have friends who can celebrate in our joy.

Throughout all of this, we had a chance to see our precious little one and to hear his or her heartbeat. Our first appointment was on Dec. 4. We were 8 weeks along at that time. Judd did have the doctor double check that we were not having twins. Ha. The heartbeat was most beautiful sound I had ever heard.

We have yet another milestone this week. We find out on Thursday, February 13, 2014 if we are having a boy or a girl. We are going to make this news a special Valentine's Day surprise for both sets of parents who will be coming to visit on the 14th.

What do you think we are having? We would love to see your guess. I will provide a little detail to help inform your decision. I feel great now at 18 weeks but was a little sick during the first trimester. I am loving pickles and all things pickled like never before. Ice cream has also been especially delicious lately.

Leave us a comment with your guess or respond to our poll on the top right of the page.

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