Big Sister Coming Soon!!

I can't believe it, but my sweet little Karys is going to be a big sister!! We just found out this happy news last Friday and I think it's taking me some time for it to really sink in. Honestly, I can't let too much of it sink in yet because then my mind wanders to all of the questions that stress me out! (i.e. How do we fit everyone? How do you parent a newborn and a toddler at the same time?) So for now I'll just be excited about being pregnant again because it was honestly fun the first time around, and the fact that we're expanding our family.

And now, for more details. :) This time around is already different than it was with Karys, enough so that I had to google my symptoms to see if they were possible pregnancy symptoms. I'd share a little more about them, but it's possible that male family members might read this and there are just some things we don't need to know about each other! :) But I will say that I've had to deal with some morning sickness, although it doesn't make me throw up.

So anyway, last Thursday I googled my symptoms and discovered that I was very possibly experiencing early pregnancy symptoms. This past weekend we had my sister spend the weekend with us so on Friday morning I got up early to work out (and take a test). I was pretty sure I knew what my test was going to say, so I wasn't too surprised when the two pink lines started appearing immediately. In an effort to not wake up anyone else in the house, I opted to take the dog for a jog as my workout so I left a note in the bathroom that said "SURPRISE!! Let's see who finds this first" and put the test with the note. I left with the dog, in hopes that when we got back both Ryan and Julie would be on the couch and would jump up when I got home and run over to me all excited. But I returned with the living room dark and empty like I'd left it. ;) However, a few minutes later my sister emerged from Karys's room saying that she found the note first. And later, I just took the message into my room and told Ryan that he had missed out on getting to know first. :)

At this point, I will be honest and say that I was surprised by this baby as I was with Karys. However, with Karys we weren't expecting to start trying for a baby any time soon when I found out I was pregnant. This time we're just a few months earlier than I was hoping for. My plan was that I wanted to have another baby in the spring of 2011. It looks like we'll be having a baby sometime around mid- to late January. We have lots of family birthdays in January (just like we had when Karys was born in July), so I'll be hoping that this baby doesn't end up being born on a day that's already "taken" (my mom's birthday is the 10th, my cousin's husband is the 11th, one of my nephews is the 19th and another is the 21st). I like for everyone to have their own special birthday.

When I found out I was pregnant with Karys, it was the day before Thanksgiving which meant we had a big holiday coming up that we got to tell everyone. This time it was two days before Mother's Day, which meant that we would see my parents on Mother's Day and be able to tell them in person in a special way. We went with an idea that Ryan had as our way of telling them. We had them take a picture with Karys, just a regular picture, where we told everyone to say "Cheese":

Then the next picture, Ryan told Karys to say "I'm going to be a big sister!" The idea was that my parents would have a shocked look on their face and then Ryan would snap their picture. However, they kept this fake smile on for the picture, and THEN looked over at me, asking, "Is this true?"Everyone is really excited...my parents and sister couldn't wait to post the news to facebook, and were disappointed that I made them wait until later Monday evening so I had a chance to call some people that I didn't want to have just read it over facebook.

One of the things that is different this time around is that for several days now I've been dealing with my heart beating much more forcefully than usual. It's super-annoying because, for example, as I'm sitting here typing, it's doing it and it feels like I'm stressed out or nervous. But nothing about typing on the computer makes me feel either of those emotions!! I'm going to visit my MD tomorrow to see what she suggests/recommends.

My first sonogram is scheduled for June 1st, and my first visit with my doctor is June 8, so hopefully after those dates I can get a more accurate due date. I had a dream Friday night that the baby was a boy so I'm gearing myself up for that to be the case. I didn't grow up with a brother so I feel a little inadequate when it comes to raising/living with little boys! I guess we'll see what happens!