Expanding our home by 2 feet!

Bryon and I have been excited to become parents since day one.  I remember always being asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, and my true answer has always been the same, "I want to me a mom."  Although we were anxious to become parents, Bryon and I decided that we needed to stabilize our lives before we jumped into raising children.  Our checklist included job security, paying off student loans/car loans/any other debts, and even raising a dog to experience the struggles related to compromising with one another and staying consistent with our "parenting decisions."

Once July 2011 rolled around, we were finally ready to begin expanding our home.  Bryon was scheduled to leave on a 7-week TDY assignment beginning August 15th.  Although I was pushing the date recommended on my pregnancy test box and risking inaccurate results from testing too early, I wanted to see if I could get an answer prior to Bryon leaving Louisiana. 

At 4AM the day Bryon's flight was scheduled to leave, I woke up needing to use the restroom.  I figured that first thing in the morning was the best time for me to take the test and sleepily opened the package using a nightlight in the bathroom.  I used the test and placed the test strip on my nightstand as I crawled back  into bed.  I let 3 minutes pass and then checked the test using the little amount of light that my iPhone provided.   "Pregnant."  

I almost didn't believe it.   I remember thinking to myself, "Don't people try for months for a positive test?"  Among those I knew, it'd seemed like the ones trying to have a baby always struggled to do so.  First time attempt: success?  I had been expecting it take up to 6 months for us to actually get pregnant.  Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled that "it worked," but I was shocked at the same time.  Were my eyes playing tricks on me due to my semi-still-asleep state?  I checked the test 5 minutes later to make sure the results hadn't magically changed.  However, the test was digital, so it wasn't really possible to misread "Pregnant."  I can't accurately describe my exact emotions - happy, excited, content, nervous...I think a little bit of everything at the same time.

I'd always expected that I'd be jumping up and down with joy over a positive pregnancy test, but that's not exactly how everything unfolded.  Maybe it's because this was my first attempt at pregnancy, so the pressure was off.  Maybe other factors were involved...

1) Bryon was still sleeping soundly.  

2) Bryon isn't the fondest of being woken up throughout the night - regardless the reason.

3) I didn't FEEL like anything had "changed."  

I most definitely was unable to fall back asleep, despite my irrational belief that sleep would be possible in this moment.  I knew Bryon needed to get up and go to work at 7AM for an hour before his flight left later that afternoon.  The remainder of my early morning was spent scrambling to brainstorm some clever way for me to tell Bryon about our good news before his plane departed.

As Bryon's alarm sounded, I kept quiet as he got up and went to work.  Unfortunately (for me), he drove our car.  So, I found myself left to come up with a plan to break the news to Bryon in an hour...using only what we had on hand at home.

I decided to have our dog, Kira, help me spread the news.  I grabbed a white tank of Bryon's and a black Sharpie marker.  Half way through my scribbling, the marker ran out.  "You've got to be kidding me!  All I could come up with is an old, dingy tank that reads, 'I AM A ___' - Putting my dog in a shirt like this will lead Bryon to fill in all sorts of blanks!"  Go figure.  Luckily, I found a silver Sharpie that would suffice as backup.  I hurried to finish making a tank for Kira to wear that exclaimed, "I AM A BIG SISTER!"

I viewed Bryon pulling up to our front yard out of a bedroom window and did my best to stay calm as Kira half-way cooperated with putting on her new tank top.  As Bryon walked in the door, he caught Kira running down the stairs to greet him.  She never wears clothes, so Bryon read the shirt right away.  I ran around the stairs from our bedroom to try and catch his reaction.  He read the shirt and knew right away when it meant - hurrying up the stairs to give me a kiss and hug.

The rest of the morning was spent telling our immediate family over the phone (we planned to wait and tell our relatives in person when we traveled home over the holidays) and then shipping Bryon off to TX for the remainder of the first trimester...