Dude! You're getting Adele!!

For our very first date ever, Matt took me to Cornbelly's Corn Maze and we had a super awesome time together.

One year later, when we had been married about four months, we went back and recreated our first date (but with kissing and groping).

We had just decided to start trying to get pregnant, and I thought it would be so, so cool if I was pregnant when we re-created our first date.  Although I didn't know it at the time, I actually was pregnant--but obviously that pregnancy didn't work out (don't worry though--it was about as untramatic as a miscarriage can be because I didn't know for sure that I was pregnant until I also knew that it wasn't going to be a successful pregnancy).  But, it was our first month trying so I figured I was super talented at getting pregnant, so I'd just get knocked up next month.

Well, it did end up taking longer than I expected, but I am happy to report that when we went for our Second Annual First Date Recreation, I was pregnant again!

And this time, I feel very blessed to say, that things seem to be going perfectly.  We had our 20 week ultrasound last month and the technician (who was very knowledgeable and awesome) said our baby looked absolutely perfect and very beautiful.  I wasn't planning on being able to see so much on the ultrasound, but we were counting fingers and toes and checking out her kidneys, brain, umbilical cord, waist circumference, leg length, etc.  And she apparently is totally awesome in every measurable way.

I lack the technological wherewithal to label and clarify this picture, but hopefully you can see her arm stretched along the bottom and then her cute little face just right of the center.  She is obviously quite beautiful, just like the technician said.

It took me about two days to get over the shock of learning she was a girl.  I was really expecting a boy.  But, I had my "come to Jesus" moment and I'm totally good now.  A little girl will be just perfect.

Before going public about our pregnancy, I wrote one blog entry as a sort of pregnancy journal, but I didn't publish it.  I had planned on doing several posts that way, but never got around to it.  But I will publish the one now, just in case you're interested in it.  It should be right below this one.

Matt and I are feeling extraordinarily blessed. We are so excited to have our little girl with us for our Third Annual First Date Re-creation next year.

Pregnancy Journal-- Week 8

All the pregnancy websites say to keep a pregnancy journal.  Although I doubt anyone cares about my symptoms and the things I'm learning nearly as much as I do, I've opted to do my journaling on my blog.  I'm going to start writing now, and then publish them once we make the big announcement.

My public pregnancy journaling decision always brings to mind this awesome song I heard several months ago:

Around week 7 I was sitting at work feeling awful and I realized that I shouldn't have been so critical of all my friends who complained about being pregnant.  Then I realized that I shouldn't have been so critical because that's just not a good way to be, but as a non-pregnant woman I had seen the big picture that the daily inconveniences of human-creating were causing me to forget.  What a wonderful blessing and privilege to be pregnant.  (isn't that cheesy?)  There's a half-Matt inside of me and I am so so thankful for that.  So many women I love haven't been able to build their families this way.  There really is nothing to complain about.  I've had a different attitude since this realization, and I am happy for that.

So far, I haven't been moody at all (Matt agrees, so it's not just me being delusional).  I do cry a lot more, but so far only about all the happy, beautiful things in my life.