This year instead of carving the typical jack-o-lantern face, I went for something new!
I found a medium sized white pumpkin and carved a leaf patter into it.
I picked up a leaf I found in our yard that was mostly in tact and traced it onto the pumpkin.
Next I took the pumpkin carving tools and just carved in about 1/4 of an inch. I followed the pattern and tried to make a few deeper carve in the areas of the leaf veins.
When I put the candle inside it glowed this beautiful reddish orange!
The color gets brighter as you carve deeper into the pumpkin but be careful not to break through!
I loved the way it turned out. :)
My parents were coming down to our place for the weekend to help with Anna's baby shower and visit the relatives that would be in town that weekend. I wanted to tell them in person so badly but I also didn't want our news to take anything away from Anna and Nate's Baby festivities. It was a very tricky situation!
The shower was going to be at our house so I was able to persuade my mom and dad to come over to help get things ready the night before and just hang out. We cleaned up the house and ordered pizza from Nick's (delicious, and a family tradition). Jason and I decided to tell them that night. I had made a video and sometimes share funny YouTube videos with my family so I told them that I had found a video I thought would be funny to show Nate and Anna at the shower. They were sitting next to each other on the couch and were watching it as Jason and I watched them... After a couple minutes, the words on the screen started to click and the pictures were making more sense. At the end, my mom and dad were a little puzzled.
"Really?" "Did I see that right?"
-Watch it again, Mom.
The second time around, they put the pieces together.
We got a big smile out of my dad and a "Good work! Congratulations!"
My mom put down the computer and was in a happy state of shock! She wanted to tell everyone! I had to remind her... that we didn't want everyone to know until we made it through to Thanksgiving which would be about 3 weeks away.
We told them the story of how we told Deb and Jerry a few days before and my mom said that she couldn't wait to do a happy dance with Deb! She started dancing around saying, "I'm gonna be a Grandma!"
I have a feeling that they called Deb and Jerry the next day. They had to talk about it with someone!
Deb's birthday was on October 19th. We were going to celebrate by hanging out with them that night but she does the lighting and effects for the Owatonna community theater and had a rehearsal on Wednesday night. We decided that it would be best to hang out and celebrate the Sunday before. We all love the MN Vikings (despite their continued failures) so Jason and I decided that we would get all of our gear on and take a picture together before the game. I'm working on a wall of family photos and I would just say that it's going to be for the wall.
Little did they know, Jason and I were planning on taking a video and not a photo. :)
When we got to Deb and Jerry's we had about 10 min before the game started. Deb was already in her Vikings sweatshirt- Perfect! We told Jerry to get on his jersey. Deb was so excited for the picture, probably because Jason hates pictures and was actually planning this one, she started digging through her things and found a Vikings football for Kaiah (our dog) to hold, a flag, a couple hats... etc. Clearly they bought into our plan. Jason did a great job pretending to line up the camera and work the timer so that it would take a picture. After about the third time of pretending to take a timed photo, Jason turned on the video function of our camera, ran over to his spot and said, "Okay, everyone say...Val's Pregnant!"
In this moment we were all smiling and Jason's parents were frozen, waiting for the flash! After the flash went off,
Deb turned to me and asked, "Are you kidding?"
I giggled excitedly, "No."
Deb again- "Are you serious!?"
Me again- "I'm serious, yep!"
Then the hugs happened, along with happy tears, and even a joyful Grandma Dance!
After the two pregnancy tests confirming I was pregnant, I wanted to get into the doctor to know for sure. Thursday I called to talk to talk to one of the nurses and she said they would call if they wanted to see me. Dr. Vita called later that afternoon and I scheduled an appointment for Friday after school.
Friday afternoon, I went to the lab and gave them a urine sample. I went up to OB and they called me in. It was one of the few times I didn't have to get weighed and measured before hand! Yay!
I waited in the room until I heard a knock on the door. Dr. Vita walked in and said, "Congratulations! You're pregnant!"
I know I was smiling and said thank you, but I was feeling about 20 different things at the time. No one had said those words to me yet. I'm pregnant.... In that moment I thought: What do I do now? I have been wanting this for so long. :) There is actually a baby in there. I don't really feel that different. Is she going to want me to get on the table? I wanted this. It worked! Should I be smiling bigger? How does this work? Wait a minute, do I really want this? Yes, yes I do. A little late to think about that Val. Holy CRAP. I'm Pregnant! Ahhh!!!
She continued to tell me what to do next. I won't be having an ultrasound or anything until week 20. That seems so long from now.
We need to schedule a time to meet with Dr. Fox who is going to talk with Jason and I for about an hour about things like: How my body is going to change and how this is going to effect our wallets! She will be able to answer all of our questions.
Then I need to set up an appointment with Dr. Wallner who will be my Doc through pregnancy. She is going to do a physical and blood work and answer any other questions we may have.
The last thing she did was let me know when the baby would be due.
According to her handy due date wheel, Baby Seath is due to arrive on June 4th.
I took a pregnancy test first thing Thursday morning and it was positive! :) I had heard that there is no such thing as a false positive pregnancy test so I knew it was true! My body's been telling me something has been going on for the last week too. While I was teaching, I would have moments of dizziness and I could only eat a small amount at meals or I would become nauseous.
I wanted to be sure, so I took another test that night from a different brand and that too was positive!
I wanted to do a little more than just tell Jason in person. I decided to go to the store and find some kind of daddy shirt. I found a gender friendly t-shirt that said, "My First Twins Shirt." It was so small and adorable and we both LOVE the MN Twins. -Perfect. (I also found a lil onesie that said, "My Momma's a Rockstar." I got that too!) As I was in that section it hit me. I had no idea what half of the items and crazy looking contraptions were for! -Wow. I have a lot to learn.
Anyway, I brought the t-shirt home and put it in a tin container so it would look like chocolates, one of Jason's favorite things. I wrapped both pregnancy tests up in tissue paper and put them below the t-shirt. There was a card I found that said, You and Me on the front and was blank on the inside. I wrote these words inside... "Are having a baby!" along with a bunch of other gushy things ;). I put the card on top of the tin with the words, I hope your week gets better on it. He had pool very late Thursday night so I put it on his pillow for when he got home. :)
I went to bed and woke up to his big hug and him saying, "So I guess we're are having a baby?"
Jason and I have been trying to get pregnant for a couple months now and this time, we made it happen!! I missed my period and was over a week late. I had gone through about 7 pregnancy tests, testing nearly every day and finally on Thursday morning, I took a test and it was positive! :)
We have had the week from hell.
Monday- I had food poisoning and Jason was home sick with a fever and body aches.
Tuesday- Jason went to the doctor and the Doc told him he has SHINGLES!
Wednesday- Jason was turning in some paperwork for a new job he is applying for and totaled the car!
The week takes a turn for the better...
Thursday- We were hoping for a normal day, uneventful day. I took a pregnancy test and we are pregnant!
Friday- Went to the doctor and she confirmed the pregnancy. :) We went to Barnes and Noble (one of my FAVORITE places) and browsed books in the expected parents section. Jason and I went out to dinner at The Olive Garden and spent the ride there, all of our time at B & N, dinner and the ride home talking about how excited, scared, nervous, and happy we are.
What a week! Bottom line, we are pregnant and excited!
