Boy or Girl? How we told the Family

Our home of two is turning to three,

A boy or a girl will it be?

Blue baby blankets and pee pee tents

or pink dresses with tu tus for formal events?

Will GI Joes and Green toys brawl?
Or maybe Barbee will hit the shopping mall?

Sit or stand no matter the stance,
our baby's gonna wear big kid pants.

Dancing shoes or soccer cleats, fixing things or baking treats.

Open the box and you will see what our little baby is going to be.

Now this poem isn't to say boys can't bake or girls can't fix things or play soccer...so no hate mail please.

We were fortunate enough to have TJ there with us to document the day we told the family that you are a BOY! And telling them all your name was equally as fun! We can't wait to meet you Ethan Thomas Lunn!! (And NO we are not calling him ET for short....for all of you wondering!)

Going Public & Adam's Not-So-Weekly Text Update

I am copying this post directly from my other blog.

It has been 58 days since my last post. I promise....I am still working, and I fully intend on blogging the sessions, weddings, and life that has passed in these last 58 days. My absence has not been in vain, and thankfully I have the best clients who have been understanding and patient with me over the past couple of months.

So what is it that I have been doing all of this time?
Resting.
Sleeping.
Worshiping the porcelain god.
Eating.
and most importantly GROWING A BABY!!!

Yep that's right! We are having a baby!! I am 13 weeks and we could not be more excited! Morning sickness aka all day sickness has been extremely tough on me, and unfortunately the last thing I want to do when I get home from work is get on the computer and edit, blog, facebook, etc. I have felt tired like I've never felt tired before. Computer screens and movement make me sick. My diet consists of saltines, toast, and noodles. However, in just a few short months, it will all be worth it! Adam is just as excited as I am and he definitely deserves a shout out. Afterall, his life this past 13 weeks has consisted of cooking, cleaning, waiting on me, and putting up with me.

A few weeks ago, we told the awesome news to our families. It was right around father's day. We gave my dad a card with a picture of the ultrasound taped inside and we gave Adam's dad a book called, The Gifts of Being Grand by Marianne Richmond. Cutest book ever.



I will keep you posted during the very exciting time and your prayers for a healthy baby are very much appreciated!

For anyone who has been pregnant in the last few years, you are probably more than familiar with sites like TheBump.com and Babycenter.com
These two sites are both a God send and curse. They send weekly updates on what is going on with the baby as far as development and also updates as to what mommy should be feeling at each particular stage in her pregnancy. However, these sites also have forums. On one hand, these forums have kept me from feeling the need to call my doctor at every ache and pain since I have been able to see other women are dealing with the exact same thing. On the other hand, there are some crazy women out there....who freak out at every little thing, which sometimes made me wonder,
do I freak out enough?
Should I be freaking out that my dog just jumped on my stomcah? Should I be freaking out that I just ate that fiber one bar that apparently contains something that can cause contractions? Should I be freaking out because my nose is running?

NO, NO and NO! You have to take websites like these with a grain of salt. And don't read too much into what people are saying.

All of that was to lead into what came of our weekly updates. Adam would read them and then create his own updates to send out to our family via text message. He didn't do them every week, sometimes there was even a few weeks inbetween update. However, when he did send them out they were really. So I'll share them with you at the end of my next few posts.

Text from Adam sent August 17, 2011

"As of yeseterday, Shell is 16 weeks pregnant with our avocado! Our baby can now hear, so we'll have to watch the swearing, horror films, and dirty comments now, lol. Abby, you can start to sing Michelle and the baby to sleep :) Baby's eyebrows, eye lashes, and hair are starting to fill in and the taste buds are forming. In the next few weeks he or she will double in size from their current 4.5" length and 3.5 oz weight. Baby's legs are much more developed and the head is more errect. Toenails are starting to grow and the heart is pumping 25 qts of blood each day! 3 weeks until we find out the sex! I absolutely can not wait to hold him or her!!!!!"

Anniversary Trip turned Baby Moon

Adam surprised me (long before I found out I was pregnant) with a trip to Florida. He had to go to a 3 day conference so he decided that he could bring me along, extend the trip and that could be our 2 year anniversary trip. Little did we know that trip would soon turn into our Baby Moon.

I was 6 weeks pregnant when we left, which meant morning sickness was quickly approching. We had plans to go out and site see. We were going to go on a mini day cruize with a romantic sunset dinner. We were going to drink champaigne.

We had big plans. But they all changed soon after we got there. The first day was okay, the second got worse, and with each day came more and more sickness and nausea. We didn't go on any cruizes. We didn't drink champaigne. We didn't really even get in the ocean. We walked slowly. We rested from the heat often. We talked about baby names. We looked forward to getting home so that we could tell our families. It was a nice get away for the two of us, but not the trip we had planned for. All in all I'm still glad we got to take one last vacation with just the two of us before Ethan arrives.

We didn't take a whole lot of pictures...and as the week progressed I left the room less and less. The last three days I didn't even step foot on the beach, I laid in the hotel room while Adam was in his conference and caught up on Dr. Oz, the First 48, Ellen, and Dual Survival.

Happy Baby Moon!

We did walk along the beach looking for these awesome shells. These were everywhere but to find the good ones, the ones that weren't broken, cracked, and in pieces you had to have a strategy. We got a system down. I was a master spotter. As the tide rolled out you had to look for a ripple in the water. As soon as I saw what appeard to be the ripple of a shell Adam would run over before the next tide came in and pick up the shell.



Our team work paid off.





We also decided to walk to the other side of the island one day. It's a tiny island so it really wasn't that big of a feat, however, it took us pretty much all day. That's what Adam gets for taking his pregnant wife to Florida! :) On our long walk we found this ping pong table in the middle of nowhere. It was totally like a scene straight out of Lost.





And when Adam tells me that I am going to use this map to get us back to our starting point, this is the look he gets.



Attractive right?

We also met some friends along the way.





So that was our baby moon. I can't count how many times we said, "We are going to have a BABY" or "I can't wait to get home...5 days until we get to tell the family!"

It sunk in....so we gave you a nickname

It didn't take long for it to sink in. I soon started getting texts like this one throughout the day from Adam.




And then we gave our little tiny 4 week old embryo a nickname, for the sake of not having to say "he or she" or "the baby" when he or she came up in discussion . We decided to call him or her...
Thaddeus.

So then I started getting texts like this one.

(sorry this picture sucks...if you want came here for quality pictures, you came to the wrong spot... go to my other blog)



...we are still working on spelling around here.

You're going to be a D-A-D-D-Y

Let's back track to last May. I second shot a wedding for Donna Harris, and to say I was exhausted through out the day is a complete understatement. I crashed the moment I got home that night and slept until 1pm the next day. I woke up long enough to drive back to Columbia and then went straight back to sleep until work the next morning.

At this point, I'm oblivious.

Monday at work my eating habits changed. I could not get full. I could not stop eating. I ate 2 huge bagels from bread company, 3 bananas, 1/2 cup peanut butter...and these were all snacks between meals! I was just absolutely starving. When I went home I made myself a sandwich...and of course you can't have a sandwich without pickles. I opened a brand new jar of pickles only to eat the entire thing...and then drink the juice. Now those of you that know me know my eating habits are strange...and yes I have been known to take a few sips of pickle juice in the past, but never have I ever downed an entire jar. After my sandwich I went to bed, for 12 hours.

Pickle juice cliche and all...I'm still oblivious.

Tuesday I went through the same exhaustion and food binge that I had gone through the day before. Now, I'm thinking something might be up. So I took a cheap dollar store pregnancy test thinking nothing of it.

One line appeared...and then a second. I think I scared my dogs because I started screaming and running around for lack of knowing what else I should do. This could not be right...those dollar store tests aren't accurate. I'll take another.

Another positive.

And then came the denial. It wasn't that I was upset, I just didn't want to get my hopes up. I mean what if I was imagining those two lines? What if those tests were wrong? So I did what any girl in my position would have done.

I went to the store and bought 4 different brands of tests. The kind with the lines. The kind with the + or - signs. The brand name. The off brand. The kind that spelled out the word PREGNANT!

So after a total of 6...yes SIX tests I decided it must be true. I was pregnant!!

Adam was working late that night so I had time to run to the store for a box of cake mix and some icing to prepare the "big reveal" to him. I think I called him about every 30 minutes asking him when he was going to be home. This particular night he ended up working until 12am!! I purposefully fell asleep in the living room so that I could wake up when he walked in and share the news with him. 1:00 rolled around and I heard him come in. I shot up ran to the kitchen grabbed my "surprise" and walked up to him...who at this point was already half asleep. I said guess what? And uncovered these...



The look on his face was one I will never forget. I could tell that it went in one ear and out the other. It was late, he was tired, and mostly, he was in shock. This isn't to say he wasn't excited...it would just take a night of sleep for that excitement to set in.

Waiting on Baby

I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do. From the night I told Adam we were going to have a baby to our vacation soon after, to the horrible 1st trimester, to telling our families the news, to baby showers, nursery themes, maternity photos, ultrasounds, and doctor's visits!

I will keep this first one short, we are expecting Ethan Thomas Lunn to arrive January 31, 2012!

Love,

Adam, Michelle, and baby Ethan