Spreading the News...

I took a test (well...4 to be exact) before church one Sunday in mid-October.  I had to hold back the excitement and act normal at church so Russell wouldn't suspect anything.  Inside I was going nuts!  It was a LONG day waiting for him to get home from work... I bought some pink and blue balloons and tied them to a bib that said "If you think I'm cute, you should see my Dad."  I put them in what will be the nursery, set up the video camera, and led him there when he got home.  His reaction is priceless... shock, excitement, tears, fulfillment.  Maybe we'll show the video at a baby shower or something. :)  One really cool thing he revealed to me was that while he's been fasting (a voluntary thing he felt God was calling him to for 40 days) he had been praying that God would fulfill the desire of his heart...to be a Dad.  I had no idea he was specifically praying for this to happen and when he told me, my heart melted.  God truly answers prayers!  We are so blessed!

 

How cute is he?!

So then we had to tell the parents.  I happened to be going to visit my parents the following weekend, but Russell wasn't going with me and he wanted to see their reaction.  I made this t-shirt and had him start talking to them on Skype.  I came into the computer screen with my "Baby" shirt and the conversation stopped, then there was a short pause, then a loud, long SCREAM from my mom and an adorable smile and big eyes from my Dad.  Then my mom screamed, "Spencer (my 16 year old bro), your sister's pregnant!!!"  They were completely overjoyed and a little shocked too I think.  The next night we told my sister, Marissa, the same way.  She absolutely cried her eyes out and had really sweet things to say about what great parents we would be.  A couple days later we took Russell's parents out to dinner under the premise that we were thanking them for hosting our LifeGroup a couple weeks prior.  They bought it and believed us when we said we got them a gift.  The gifts were little bibs that said "I Love Grandma" and "I Love Grandpa."  They opened them and showed as much excitement as you can in a public place.  They are thrilled to add a 4th grandchild to the mix.  That weekend I went to New Orleans to visit my family and my mom's parents were there too.  I put the "Baby" shirt on and told them I wanted to show them my new t-shirt.  I recorded this one too.  My grandpa literally shouted "WHAAAAAT?!?!" and my grandma was still trying to figure it out.  It was so cute.  Then the thought of adding a "great" to their name was kinda scary but they just couldn't be happier.  We told the rest of the grandparents over the phone and made them keep a secret for like 3 weeks.  It was torture on everyone...us too.  Here's a pic of me in my baby shirt...

As most of you know, we waited until after our first doctor appointment at 8 weeks (more on that later) to tell everyone else.  It has been such a blast telling everyone and seeing people share in our excitement!  This baby has a whole lot of people awaiting its arrival and will be SO loved!!

P.s.  anyone know how to rotate pictures?  Or do they need to already be rotated when I upload them?  Blogging beginner... bare with me.