I vow to help you love life, to always hold you with tenderness and to have the patience that love demands, to speak when words are needed and to share the silence when they are not and to live within the warmth of your heart and always call it home.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Bumpdate: 14 Weeks and Thanksgiving




Taken by my amazing huband

Size of baby: Lemon

Pregnancy Symptoms: I can't suck it in any longer!

Things that make me nausea: Meat. Meat. Meat.

Cravings: Rootbeer, bubble bread and carrots

Sleep: Waking up 2-3 times a night

Exercise: Crossfit 2-3 days a week, yoga once a week, running once/twice a week, 3 mile hike once a week

Baby Movement: None, but patiently waiting

Weight Gain: Not weighing right after TG, are you crazy!?

This week was the quickest I've had since September.  The Wednesday before Thanksgiving McNugget and I flew to OKC to finally be reunited with my husband after 10 weeks apart.  This was the first time he's seen us since I've developed a bump, and I knew instantly he was in love with it.  At first I was a little nervous because I didn't know if he'd see it as baby or pudge, but it only took one kiss on my bump for me to be reassured.  It's so different for us because he's not here everyday to watch us grow, so I'm sure he was pretty shocked to see quite a development from the last 10 weeks or so.

Our first stop was Thanksgiving #1 in Enid, OK with my family.  I started the day off with a great long walk with my long time bestie and we needed to warm up with Starbucks afterwards of course.


Then came the first stop on our pregnancy reveal tour, my Dad and little brother!  We met them for breakfast, and at first I played for them a recording of the baby's heartbeat to see if they could guess.  My Dad did, but my brother was confused until I told them they were listening to their grandchild's/niece/nephew's heartbeat!  My Dad teared up and my brother was speechless!



Then for nap time at my little brother's house.  My mom even stopped by to surprise us with pumpkin roll!  It's a holiday specialty of hers, and I'd been craving it my entire pregnancy.  She made me SO happy with it!  I also had a little gift to give her.  She already knew about her grandbaby, but she needed her first Grandma gift.


Pumpkin Roll!

Pumpkin Roll!

Next up on our docket for the day, our first Thanksgiving dinner!  The food was amazing, and we loved surprising my family with the great news, especially my Grandma!


Happy Thanksgiving!


My Grandma just found out, and my mom is just SO excited!


Most of the family!

That night we drove to Sulphur, OK to Kit's parent's home for our second Thanksgiving of the week.  We decided to tell them that night, even though we got in kind of late.  I'm so glad we did, I was going to bust at the seams!  


We got their reaction on video, and they were both SO incredibly shocked!  They definitely didn't see it coming with us living 5 states apart right now.  It was an awesome surprise to see, and we're so glad we waited in person to deliver the news.




The next day my Dad and brother drove up for Thanksgiving #2, and we finally got to tell my SIL that she would be an Aunt!  She's also just announced she's pregnant and I'm only 2 weeks ahead of her!  We definitely didn't plan it, but we're both really excited!  After a few more phone calls to grandparents, our secret was off our shoulders and we made it FB official! 

McShellito Family Photo

Thanksgiving #2!

My Man.

There's four people in this photo!

Sibling Photo
My last day in Oklahoma was spent eating leftovers, taking a beautiful 3 mile hike, small business shopping and ended with turkey nachos and a bedtime story to our niece.






I really can't remember a Thanksgiving that I smiled more at, or that made my heart so full and happy.  It's probably the pregnancy hormones, but I was left feeling so completely thankful and grateful after my short visit.  My husband and I are so blessed, it's almost more than my heart can bear sometimes.  Spending three days with my best friend was exactly what  I needed.  We laughed, joked, smiled so much and we never passed up a kiss or chance to touch one another.  I can't wait for the day we can live in the same household again.  Three more weeks until his Christmas break and it can't come soon enough!  We find out our baby's gender on Christmas Eve together, so we have so much to look forward to in December!


Saturday, November 29, 2014

How I Told My Husband I Was Pregnant

Let "Operation McDaddy" planning commence!

Our dear friends, The Spencers, helped me pull the surprise of his life off.  I couldn't be more grateful for them!  The plan started first exactly a week after I found out with me driving 14.5 hours through six states to Oklahoma!  I was suppose to be on the road anyway coming home from a TDY so my husband didn't think anything of it when he called and I was still on the road.  I crashed at their house that evening, and woke up with so many butterflies in my stomach the next day!  The week before I contacted a local photographer who very graciously last minute could schedule me in to capture this moment.  I'm all about photography, so this was a must for me.  We had his buddy set up a lunch date with him after he got out of class, but first meeting "him" at the Center of the Universe in Tulsa beforehand.  My oblivious husband obliged and thought nothing of it.  That afternoon he walked up the ramp, saw his wife and finally after 6 years together was asked a question that would change his world forever.

Photos By: Bethanni Murphy, Tulsa OK





Will you be my McBaby-Daddy?



I have a secret...



It's funny because I was SO nervous before he walked up.  The very sweet photographer kept me calm, but for the life of me I don't know why I was so nervous!  It's not like he's was going to say no, right?  Finally after about 40 minutes of pacing, I see a handsome man in an Atlanta Braves hat stroll up the ramp.





A look of a man who just found out he's going to be a Dad!







He was in shock just seeing me but then he said he knew he was in full ambush mode when I pulled the sign from behind my back.  He said he didn't even have to read it to know what I was conveying.  We hugged, we smiled, we laughed, we kissed and we basked in our new-found parenthood together for the first time.  It was exactly as I pictured it.  I chose the Center of the Universe because this new McBaby will be the center of ours for the rest of our lives.  He agreed as well that he wouldn't have wanted to be told any other way.  It was SO worth hiding the biggest secret ever for a week, and driving roundtrip 32 hours in 3 days just to see his face.  He deserved to be surprised for once!

I'll never forget his face.

Afterwards we took some fun photos both armed with the most exciting information of our lives.  It wasn't hard to keep the smiles on our faces!







Kit needed a break, the shock wore off!











Thanks again Bethanni Murphy for squeezing us in so last minute, thank you Jenna and Wes for letting me crash at your house in the middle of the week and baiting my unsuspecting husband!