My parents were coming to visit about a week after we found out we were pregnant. We decided not to say anything in the meantime and tell them in person. It was soooooo hard not to say anything!! After Asa was in bed and we were all sitting around the evening they arrived, I told them we'd found something for them in Amish country. I had traced a map of the US, marked the cities where each of their grandchildren were/will be born, and written birth/due dates around each city. It was rolled up like a scroll and tied with ribbon. My mom opened it and at first you could tell she did NOT get it. It obviously wasn't from Amish country, and that really threw her off--why would I say that? When she saw "7/4/11" up in Ohio, for some reason she read that as "2010" and thought it was referring to us moving to Ohio. Then she realized the other dates were not moving dates, the year was actually 2011, and it clicked! The look of shock as it registered was really fun and funny. :) I think we surprised them. ;) They are really excited for us and we are all anxiously awaiting meeting this little one.
For Matt's parents, we knew we were going to spend Thanksgiving with them in a few weeks but didn't want to wait that long to tell them/make them wait longer than my parents waited to find out. Matt called and has his usual chit-chat with his dad. Then he asked if his Mom was around and if his dad would put him on speaker phone. I think that totally tipped his dad off... the last time Matt asked to be on speaker phone was to tell them we were pregnant with Asa. ;) But his dad obliged. :) Matt told them that we were thinking about our Thanksgiving plans and wondering if we could bring an additional person with us. I think he dad became HIGHLY suspicious at that point :), but he didn't come right out and ask. One of his parents asked, "Well, okay, but who is it?" When Matt answered, "Well, we don't know yet if it's a boy or a girl," they let out their excited shouts and asked, "Are you REALLY (pregnant)?!?" They are very much looking forward to meeting another little Kubo. :)
For my oldest brother and Matt's sister, we scanned the map I made (I made a separate one for each of them with the dates of the children/cousins that pertain to them) and emailed it to them, then made a follow-up phone call to talk about it. :) For my middle brother, I was talking on the phone with him and told him I hoped his 2 boys could spend the night at my parents' while Asa and I would be visiting so we could have a "4 cousin sleep over." Initially he agreed, "Yeah, that would be nice.... wait, a FOUR cousin sleep over?" "Yes, a four cousin sleep over." Silence. "Are you....pregnant?!" :) hehe
Lastly, we didn't announce to our friends at large until we had an ultrasound right before Christmas. When we returned home from our appointment, I uploaded a print out of the baby to facebook and posted it with the caption, "I've grown 2 feet in 3 months... whoa! ;)" It was a fun way to make a little play on words and announce our good news. :)
We had a lot of fun revealing the big news to our families and friends. We are very thankful for their (your!) support and prayers during a time of such growth and change! And hopefully soon we'll be introducing our baby to you by name! Less than 3 weeks until our ultrasound. :)
Showing posts with label telling friends and family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label telling friends and family. Show all posts
Monday, January 24, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
The Background
We obviously announced here on the blog that we are expecting another baby, but we didn't give you any background or "how we told so-and-so" stories. Here you go. ;) Somewhat for those who might be curious, more for the sake of recording such stories for our children, showing how God works and moves and provides. :)
I have to admit I stressed a LOT about when the "right" time to try to have another baby was. For whatever reason--mostly pressure I put on myself I'm sure--I felt like people expect young families to have children 2 years apart. Ever since we moved to Ohio I have been asked, "Do you like being a mom? Do you want more?" And the way the, "Do you want more?" is asked kind of comes across more-often-than-not with a tone of "if you don't want more soon, you must not really like kids.... or at least the baby-stage." At least that's the way hyper-sensitive me received it. ;) At the same time, I seemed to run into a lot what *I* felt like was glorification/martyrdom of having "two under two." I knew that was not something I wanted to try for, but it seemed like all the cool kids were doing it and patting themselves on the back for signing up for such a hard job. ;) On top of alllll that, we had Asa's health to consider as he was FINALLY on track with his growth. He's on the picky side of little eaters, and he was still nursing. I loved knowing that even on his pickier days, he was getting well-rounded nutrition from nursing. And even though it's not a guarantee, it's not uncommon for a mom's milk supply to decrease with the hormonal changes that accompany pregnancy. I felt very strongly about not jeopardizing that while Asa's palate was less adventurous.
Early in the fall, Asa started branching out and trying LOTS of new foods. It was so exciting and gave me such peace that whenever nursing came to a close, he was getting lots of healthy variety from his diet regardless of mama's milk. At that point we still were not trying to get pregnant, but it wasn't something I was so terribly concerned about the repercussions of should it happen. Matt and I talked a lot about when we wanted to start trying, and I have to laugh now about a couple of comments I made. #1 I said I realllllly didn't want to try in a timing that would give us "2 under 2." We have little support system here since we just moved and that sounded overwhelming. If God did it, we'd figure it out. But it wasn't something I wanted to try for when I don't have any close friends here... pretty much acquaintances at this point. #2 I felt overwhelmed by the "decision" in general. When we talked about trying to get pregnant with Asa, it mostly affected Matt and me. This time we were making a decision that would HUGELY impact someone's life who had no say in the matter--Asa. I agonized over that. At one point I told Matt, "I wish we would just get pregnant without really trying. Then I would know it was all God's doing and no influence of my own." Cue God listening verrrrrry closely to what I mused about aloud. ;)
I thought right away that we were pregnant. Within a day or two of when we got pregnant I just had this feeling. I just knew deep, deep down that a positive pregnancy test was in my very near future. Because of the method we choose to use for "family planning," I knew that most of the time we would both be aware of whether or not to expect I could be pregnant. Everything happened a little "off schedule" the month I got pregnant, so Matt was CLUELESS that it was even in the realm of possibilities, and so was I until after everything already happened. I figured this might be my only chance to ever COMPLETELY surprise him with a pregnancy announcement. I didn't tell him that things happened earlier than usual and I could be pregnant. I wondered to myself and tried not to reveal anything to Matt for almost 2 weeks. It was soooo hard not to say anything!! When I started having pregnancy symptoms, they only further confirmed my suspicions. Then I took a pregnancy test. Now comes the fun part. ;)
It was positive, of course. I tried to decide how I wanted to tell Matt. He called me out of the blue and said he wanted to go out to dinner to celebrate. WHAT? How did he know?? I asked him what we were celebrating, and he told me about a big milestone at work. Whew! I gladly agreed we should go out to dinner. I set the positive pregnancy test on my dresser near one of Asa's matchbox cars, then I went downstairs to wait for Matt to get home. When he got home, Matt was ready to go out right away. I asked him to run up and grab Asa's car off my dresser so we'd have something to entertain him while we waited for our food. He took Asa with him, and it became verrrrry, verrrry quiet upstairs. Suddenly I heard him call from our bedroom, "What's this pregnancy test?" I answered, "What do you think?" He responded, "Well, you're not pregnant." I said, "How do you know?" At that point he told me he was really confused and coming back downstairs. I was taping the whole exchange on video, although it's not a funny as I hoped since Matt was so confused. ;) Apparently he thought I had pulled a positive test out from when I was pregnant with Asa for nostalgia's sake (?!?!). It was pretty funny to see everything finally click and Matt realize this was a new test for a different baby! :)
Of course our little table of 3 +1 stowaway was abuzz over dinner with, "Oh my goodness! Can you believe this?! We're really having another baby!!" Lots of shocked smiles for both of us. In reality, it came only a couple of months before we talked about "trying," so I'm not sure why it was so shocking, but it was! :)
Let's review for just a moment:
#1 Becca says, "I don't to try for 2 under 2." God's plan: This baby is due a week and a half after Asa's 2nd birthday--ha!
#2 Becca says, "I wish we would get pregnant without actually trying." God's plan: got that covered, too. ;)
As surprising as it was, we are so thankful for this little life! God has provided a patient and understanding husband as I've felt much more sick this time around and for much longer, despite that I've had more energy overall than I did with Asa.. which is sure helpful for keeping up with him! We had a referral for a doctor we feel comfortable with. I grieved not getting to deliver with my midwife in Florida again, but God has reminded me that everything is for a season. And while we might not be getting the complete experience we loved with the midwives, the care we are getting from our very friendly and super well-educated, not c-section-happy OB who comes so highly recommended it's unbelievable is everything that's MOST important to us about prenatal care and delivery. God has provided for our NEEDS (another recurring theme of this move.... wants vs. needs). And just when the reality of living here 7+ months, still having only acquaintances, and being stuck inside most days during a frigid winter settled in, we found a Sunday school class to visit that seemed like a WONDERFUL fit last week. Again--God provides.
Stay tuned for "How we told our families" :)
I have to admit I stressed a LOT about when the "right" time to try to have another baby was. For whatever reason--mostly pressure I put on myself I'm sure--I felt like people expect young families to have children 2 years apart. Ever since we moved to Ohio I have been asked, "Do you like being a mom? Do you want more?" And the way the, "Do you want more?" is asked kind of comes across more-often-than-not with a tone of "if you don't want more soon, you must not really like kids.... or at least the baby-stage." At least that's the way hyper-sensitive me received it. ;) At the same time, I seemed to run into a lot what *I* felt like was glorification/martyrdom of having "two under two." I knew that was not something I wanted to try for, but it seemed like all the cool kids were doing it and patting themselves on the back for signing up for such a hard job. ;) On top of alllll that, we had Asa's health to consider as he was FINALLY on track with his growth. He's on the picky side of little eaters, and he was still nursing. I loved knowing that even on his pickier days, he was getting well-rounded nutrition from nursing. And even though it's not a guarantee, it's not uncommon for a mom's milk supply to decrease with the hormonal changes that accompany pregnancy. I felt very strongly about not jeopardizing that while Asa's palate was less adventurous.
Early in the fall, Asa started branching out and trying LOTS of new foods. It was so exciting and gave me such peace that whenever nursing came to a close, he was getting lots of healthy variety from his diet regardless of mama's milk. At that point we still were not trying to get pregnant, but it wasn't something I was so terribly concerned about the repercussions of should it happen. Matt and I talked a lot about when we wanted to start trying, and I have to laugh now about a couple of comments I made. #1 I said I realllllly didn't want to try in a timing that would give us "2 under 2." We have little support system here since we just moved and that sounded overwhelming. If God did it, we'd figure it out. But it wasn't something I wanted to try for when I don't have any close friends here... pretty much acquaintances at this point. #2 I felt overwhelmed by the "decision" in general. When we talked about trying to get pregnant with Asa, it mostly affected Matt and me. This time we were making a decision that would HUGELY impact someone's life who had no say in the matter--Asa. I agonized over that. At one point I told Matt, "I wish we would just get pregnant without really trying. Then I would know it was all God's doing and no influence of my own." Cue God listening verrrrrry closely to what I mused about aloud. ;)
I thought right away that we were pregnant. Within a day or two of when we got pregnant I just had this feeling. I just knew deep, deep down that a positive pregnancy test was in my very near future. Because of the method we choose to use for "family planning," I knew that most of the time we would both be aware of whether or not to expect I could be pregnant. Everything happened a little "off schedule" the month I got pregnant, so Matt was CLUELESS that it was even in the realm of possibilities, and so was I until after everything already happened. I figured this might be my only chance to ever COMPLETELY surprise him with a pregnancy announcement. I didn't tell him that things happened earlier than usual and I could be pregnant. I wondered to myself and tried not to reveal anything to Matt for almost 2 weeks. It was soooo hard not to say anything!! When I started having pregnancy symptoms, they only further confirmed my suspicions. Then I took a pregnancy test. Now comes the fun part. ;)
It was positive, of course. I tried to decide how I wanted to tell Matt. He called me out of the blue and said he wanted to go out to dinner to celebrate. WHAT? How did he know?? I asked him what we were celebrating, and he told me about a big milestone at work. Whew! I gladly agreed we should go out to dinner. I set the positive pregnancy test on my dresser near one of Asa's matchbox cars, then I went downstairs to wait for Matt to get home. When he got home, Matt was ready to go out right away. I asked him to run up and grab Asa's car off my dresser so we'd have something to entertain him while we waited for our food. He took Asa with him, and it became verrrrry, verrrry quiet upstairs. Suddenly I heard him call from our bedroom, "What's this pregnancy test?" I answered, "What do you think?" He responded, "Well, you're not pregnant." I said, "How do you know?" At that point he told me he was really confused and coming back downstairs. I was taping the whole exchange on video, although it's not a funny as I hoped since Matt was so confused. ;) Apparently he thought I had pulled a positive test out from when I was pregnant with Asa for nostalgia's sake (?!?!). It was pretty funny to see everything finally click and Matt realize this was a new test for a different baby! :)
Of course our little table of 3 +1 stowaway was abuzz over dinner with, "Oh my goodness! Can you believe this?! We're really having another baby!!" Lots of shocked smiles for both of us. In reality, it came only a couple of months before we talked about "trying," so I'm not sure why it was so shocking, but it was! :)
Let's review for just a moment:
#1 Becca says, "I don't to try for 2 under 2." God's plan: This baby is due a week and a half after Asa's 2nd birthday--ha!
#2 Becca says, "I wish we would get pregnant without actually trying." God's plan: got that covered, too. ;)
As surprising as it was, we are so thankful for this little life! God has provided a patient and understanding husband as I've felt much more sick this time around and for much longer, despite that I've had more energy overall than I did with Asa.. which is sure helpful for keeping up with him! We had a referral for a doctor we feel comfortable with. I grieved not getting to deliver with my midwife in Florida again, but God has reminded me that everything is for a season. And while we might not be getting the complete experience we loved with the midwives, the care we are getting from our very friendly and super well-educated, not c-section-happy OB who comes so highly recommended it's unbelievable is everything that's MOST important to us about prenatal care and delivery. God has provided for our NEEDS (another recurring theme of this move.... wants vs. needs). And just when the reality of living here 7+ months, still having only acquaintances, and being stuck inside most days during a frigid winter settled in, we found a Sunday school class to visit that seemed like a WONDERFUL fit last week. Again--God provides.
Stay tuned for "How we told our families" :)
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Just Kickin' It
That's right, baby K is kicking away! It's pretty much a multiple times per day occurrence and definitely more than just flutters. This baby all out jabs and kicks!
I started feeling it around 15 weeks (and maybe once at 13). At first it was just a kick or flutter a couple times a week. Now it's enough that for the first time tonight.... MATT FELT THE BABY KICK!! His eyes got really big and he grinned ear to ear! I didn't think the kicks were quite strong enough yet, but I told him they were definitely much stronger this week. He tried when I told him I felt the baby kicking, and before I knew it, it was obvious he felt his little one. :)
Also, today I talked with my principals about the plan for next year. They were extremely gracious and supportive and will allow me to/help me get a leave-of-absence for next year. Now I just have to break the news to a few of my students' parents who have 2nd graders and were hoping I'd have the younger siblings next year, too. I also told my principals I'm planning to stop early in May to adjust and settle in at home, but I'll tell my class that later.
We are doing well, getting back into the swing of things after Christmas, and counting down (and praying over!!) our ultrasound in 11 days! :)
We hope you are well!
I started feeling it around 15 weeks (and maybe once at 13). At first it was just a kick or flutter a couple times a week. Now it's enough that for the first time tonight.... MATT FELT THE BABY KICK!! His eyes got really big and he grinned ear to ear! I didn't think the kicks were quite strong enough yet, but I told him they were definitely much stronger this week. He tried when I told him I felt the baby kicking, and before I knew it, it was obvious he felt his little one. :)
Also, today I talked with my principals about the plan for next year. They were extremely gracious and supportive and will allow me to/help me get a leave-of-absence for next year. Now I just have to break the news to a few of my students' parents who have 2nd graders and were hoping I'd have the younger siblings next year, too. I also told my principals I'm planning to stop early in May to adjust and settle in at home, but I'll tell my class that later.
We are doing well, getting back into the swing of things after Christmas, and counting down (and praying over!!) our ultrasound in 11 days! :)
We hope you are well!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Start Spreading the News....
Yesterday I worked up the nerve to tell my principal we are expecting. She was very supportive and excited for us. 
I'm SO glad that's over with. I was verrrrry nervous.
Then today I told my class. We usually have a "mystery reader" (parent or grandparent) secretly come on Wednesdays to read to the class during "lunch bunch" in the classroom. Today I was the mystery reader, and I told them I had a surprise from them before I read to them. I put a hangman slide I made up on the SmartBoard that had blanks for "Mrs. Kubo is having a baby!" They guessed several letters like K, I, A, U (plus a couple wrong letters) and figured out one part was my name. So next, someone guessed B . When they got the B, they figured out the last word was baby. The next moment, one student called out, "Mrs. Kubo is having a baby," but you could tell he just guessed the phrase and didn't think about what he'd said. They all just LOOKED at me. I smiled and asked, "What do you think?!" They asked me, "Are you???" When I nodded yes, they starting squealing, running up to hug me, and jumping up and down. It was sooooo sweet! Their biggest concerns are what we will name the baby (they all want us to use their name, of course), when I will look pregnant, and how I could keep it a secret from them for 3 months. Now that my class, the principals, and facebook know (I'm linked to a couple coworkers on there, and I finally "unblocked" them from seeing my status after I spoke with the principal yesterday), it's spreading like wildfire! It was a very fun day.
p.s. We're officially 13 weeks today!
I'm SO glad that's over with. I was verrrrry nervous.Then today I told my class.
We usually have a "mystery reader" (parent or grandparent) secretly come on Wednesdays to read to the class during "lunch bunch" in the classroom. Today I was the mystery reader, and I told them I had a surprise from them before I read to them. I put a hangman slide I made up on the SmartBoard that had blanks for "Mrs. Kubo is having a baby!" They guessed several letters like K, I, A, U (plus a couple wrong letters) and figured out one part was my name. So next, someone guessed B . When they got the B, they figured out the last word was baby. The next moment, one student called out, "Mrs. Kubo is having a baby," but you could tell he just guessed the phrase and didn't think about what he'd said. They all just LOOKED at me. I smiled and asked, "What do you think?!" They asked me, "Are you???" When I nodded yes, they starting squealing, running up to hug me, and jumping up and down. It was sooooo sweet! Their biggest concerns are what we will name the baby (they all want us to use their name, of course), when I will look pregnant, and how I could keep it a secret from them for 3 months. Now that my class, the principals, and facebook know (I'm linked to a couple coworkers on there, and I finally "unblocked" them from seeing my status after I spoke with the principal yesterday), it's spreading like wildfire! It was a very fun day. p.s. We're officially 13 weeks today!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Surprise!
Thank you so much for the warm wishes. :) We are so excited to be sharing our news. We do not take a day of this pregnancy for granted, and we are so thankful and yes, HUMBLED, that Baby K still seems to be doing just fine! :)
2 pieces of "business," and then a fun story! :) #1 My brother, Brad, said I ought to make it a little more clear that THIS is now our family blog. You will not be seeing new posts over on the "mattandbecca05" blog, so change your Google Reader and RSS now! :) #2 This blog is our FAMILY blog, so it will not be all baby all the time. You'll still read about our daily happenings. For example, tonight we tried to Pedi-Paws for the first time with Sammy. It was SO much better than using the clippers! She wasn't exactly thrilled at the end of the first paw (we just did one tonight), but overall she did great (I won't mention the steady stream of milkbones she ate while we "introduced" her to the contraption!!). :)
Now, a fun story. I thought I'd tell you how I found out we are expecting and how I told Matt.
I had been feeling funny all week and knew (hoped!) there was a chance we could be pregnant. About half of what I was feeling could be attributed to normal hormone changes or to pregnancy, and about half seemed way too wacky to be anything but pregancy. But I just couldn't believe that we could really be pregnant right away. I tested early hoping to surprise Matt, but I misread the box and actually tested one day before its earliest detection. It was negative. I figured out my mistake, tried not to be disappointed, and purposed to wait until I was actually late before testing again.
But, Matt knew I was going to wait until I was late. I really wanted to surprise him somehow. So, figured there was no harm in testing again one day before I was late (which was still several days AFTER the test said it would start being effective for many people). So the night before I was going to test, I snuck a test into our master bathroom for the morning. On Sept. 30 I tried to casually bounce out of bed. :) My hands shook as I took the test. It had taken a little while for the negative test to show, so I exptected this to take a couple minutes as well. I glanced away (hands still shaking), and when I glanced back it was already positive!!! I couldn't believe it!! It was so surreal! I just started praying in amazement and trying to figure out how to act normally until I told Matt (and sneak the positive test out of the bathroom).
I went about my "normal" morning routines, and then I went to get Matt up. It was his last day as a hip engineer before switching to the knee development group. I told him we had a picture of him from his first day of working on hips, and now I wanted one of his last day working on hips. I took a few normal, "1, 2, 3...." kinds of shots. Then I asked for one last picture. I took a deep breath and said, "1....2..... I'm pregnant!" Matt just grinned the same silly smile as the other pictures because it TOTALLY did not register at first! Then he started to look really confused. "No you're not!" he said. "Yes, I am!" I replied. "Are you really???!" he asked. I started crying (happy tears), and said, "Really." Then I showed him the positive test and he came over and gave me the biggest hug and started praying and thanking God. :) I took one more test to show him we had more than one positive. :)
Then I had to head to work and act like everything was normal! Ha! :) I didn't even tell my mom on my way to work that morning! Matt admitted to checking the tests several times while he got ready for work, and even coming home to eat lunch and checking again. :) When I came home from work, he had left 2 knives in the shape of a plus sign on my chair at the computer. :) When he came home, he brought me a bouquet of flowers. :) We actually used those in how we told my parents..... and that is a story for another day!
2 pieces of "business," and then a fun story! :) #1 My brother, Brad, said I ought to make it a little more clear that THIS is now our family blog. You will not be seeing new posts over on the "mattandbecca05" blog, so change your Google Reader and RSS now! :) #2 This blog is our FAMILY blog, so it will not be all baby all the time. You'll still read about our daily happenings. For example, tonight we tried to Pedi-Paws for the first time with Sammy. It was SO much better than using the clippers! She wasn't exactly thrilled at the end of the first paw (we just did one tonight), but overall she did great (I won't mention the steady stream of milkbones she ate while we "introduced" her to the contraption!!). :)
Now, a fun story. I thought I'd tell you how I found out we are expecting and how I told Matt.
I had been feeling funny all week and knew (hoped!) there was a chance we could be pregnant. About half of what I was feeling could be attributed to normal hormone changes or to pregnancy, and about half seemed way too wacky to be anything but pregancy. But I just couldn't believe that we could really be pregnant right away. I tested early hoping to surprise Matt, but I misread the box and actually tested one day before its earliest detection. It was negative. I figured out my mistake, tried not to be disappointed, and purposed to wait until I was actually late before testing again.
But, Matt knew I was going to wait until I was late. I really wanted to surprise him somehow. So, figured there was no harm in testing again one day before I was late (which was still several days AFTER the test said it would start being effective for many people). So the night before I was going to test, I snuck a test into our master bathroom for the morning. On Sept. 30 I tried to casually bounce out of bed. :) My hands shook as I took the test. It had taken a little while for the negative test to show, so I exptected this to take a couple minutes as well. I glanced away (hands still shaking), and when I glanced back it was already positive!!! I couldn't believe it!! It was so surreal! I just started praying in amazement and trying to figure out how to act normally until I told Matt (and sneak the positive test out of the bathroom).
I went about my "normal" morning routines, and then I went to get Matt up. It was his last day as a hip engineer before switching to the knee development group. I told him we had a picture of him from his first day of working on hips, and now I wanted one of his last day working on hips. I took a few normal, "1, 2, 3...." kinds of shots. Then I asked for one last picture. I took a deep breath and said, "1....2..... I'm pregnant!" Matt just grinned the same silly smile as the other pictures because it TOTALLY did not register at first! Then he started to look really confused. "No you're not!" he said. "Yes, I am!" I replied. "Are you really???!" he asked. I started crying (happy tears), and said, "Really." Then I showed him the positive test and he came over and gave me the biggest hug and started praying and thanking God. :) I took one more test to show him we had more than one positive. :)
Then I had to head to work and act like everything was normal! Ha! :) I didn't even tell my mom on my way to work that morning! Matt admitted to checking the tests several times while he got ready for work, and even coming home to eat lunch and checking again. :) When I came home from work, he had left 2 knives in the shape of a plus sign on my chair at the computer. :) When he came home, he brought me a bouquet of flowers. :) We actually used those in how we told my parents..... and that is a story for another day!
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