We're Having A BABY!!!

Sharing All the Things…

Taylor and I have been holding a great big secret close to our hearts for quite some time now, and just recently shared with everyone our very special and exciting news!! We’re having a baby!! I think we’re still in a little bit of shock, but everyday (especially now with my changing body), it becomes more and more real. We could not be more grateful or excited about this news, a beautiful surprise to our lives.

I share our news and our story with the hopes of this bringing some joy and hope to your hearts, especially at this time as we’re all living through a world pandemic right now. Please know that our hearts are very sensitive to those that ache when news like this is shared. And I also ask that if you read our story, remember everybody’s story is different. God writes beautiful stories through each of us in different ways. And every pregnancy is different, so please be careful to not compare.

How we found out!!

I’ll start by saying, this was a HUGE surprise!! One we will cherish forever and ever of course. But with some big travels in place for the year, we had thought we’d wait until after all of that to start our journey to baby Leopold (our last name, not the baby’s name!). Apparently God had some different plans for us, and our upcoming adventures would include a little growing sidekick to come along with us. A very welcomed passenger.

We found out about our sweet surprise together on Monday, January 13th, 2020! I won’t forget the night, or the emotions, and excitement. We were just getting ready to start The Bachelor on TV (of course, it was a Monday), and enjoy some wine when we realized it may be time to take a pregnancy test. My body had been giving me some cues/signs, that I wasn’t really paying attention to, because I just wasn’t thinking “pregnancy”. I figured we’d been traveling so much, indulging, and just out of routine. But after six days of those cues, it was time to take the test. And whoa!!!! The best surprise of our lives showed up on that at home pregnancy test! To be sure we understood correctly, we took one more test, and it was official. I was pregnant! We sat down together to soak up this beautiful moment. There were happy tears, and some extreme shock! We decided to keep this precious secret between the two of us until we were able to get to our first doctor’s appointment. There was something really sacred in holding that secret just between the two of us. A new bond.

We were off to Spain and Switzerland just 4 days after we had found out, so we had some time away together to let this little dream come true to settle in. It was a special milestone too, our first big adventure with our new best friend!

How I’ve been feeling…

This seems to be the number two question thus far, aside from how we found out! I think it’s because many of mamas before me know how hard it can be! I’m seriously taking it in all as a badge of honor, as I know what a blessing it is, but yes, some days can be extra hard! I will say that I’m super grateful that I haven’t experienced any extreme sickness, but nauseas and fatigue have been real. And some growing pains too that have knocked me out of my norm.

The first I felt any bit of the nausea and fatigue was when we arrived in Spain (end of week 5). (Perhaps a little jet lag too!) But some days it was really hard to feel motivated to get out and explore, but once I would, I would feel a whole lot better! My enneagram 7 Spirit showing up. I would also consistently munch on gluten free crackers, which I have no desire to have another in a very long time. haha.

In Switzerland I felt pretty good, especially since we did a lot of walking in the fresh air. It made a world of difference. But I can also tell you, that there won’t be any fondu in my near future! As much as I loved it then, I can’t stand to think of it now. I find myself getting over things really fast! haha.

My first trimester was kept really busy with travels, projects, and some fun photoshoots (where baby was still very much a secret), and I feel like this really helped me. Perhaps distraction method is something that works on me! On the days that were a whole lot slower (weeks 9 and 10 specifically) the fatigue and nausea would set in, which I’m guessing was my body looking to take advantage of some restful days.

I also found that if I ate even just a little bit of something, and continued to drink water it would help a ton. I did go through a couple weird days of the thought of water just disgusting me! Which is crazy, because I LOVE water and drink a TON of it. On those days, I would still get myself to drink water, but I’d supplement with some Coconut Water. All those natural and hydrating eloctrolytes.

Now that I have entered into my Second Trimester, I’m experienceing some new challenges. Most of the nausea has been bay completely! But some old dance injuries are showing up and reaking some havoc on my body as it’s doing it’s best to move and prepare for a growing baby. Without going into too much detail, I’ll sum it up by saying I’m experiencing something similar to Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction. Not my exact diagnosis, but without taking you too deep down a rabbit hole, that’s a good idea of what’s going on. (Feel free to google, but please don’t be worried for me!)

Thankfully I’m working with some incredible people on this to have a safe and healthy and hopefully pain free (soon) pregnancy. In the meantime, as I’m working towards treating this in the best ways I can, I’m very limited in movement, especially the things that I usually do that really fill my heart with gladness. So I’ve had a little bit of the blues, but I try to stay positive just praising God for this beautiful gift I’m experiencing growing this baby. So running, walking (more than around the home), anything in turnout (all my dancers out there know this is HARD) are out of the picture for right now. A sacrifice worth making.

Now, should we ask Taylor how he’s been feeling through all of this? haha! Poor guy. The men have a role too, listening and comforting their lady through all these highs and lows. He’s doing a great job. And there have been days where I’ve walked to the other room just asking for a hug when I needed it. So ladies, be sure to ask when you need one.

Gender!

Don’t get too excited yet!! We don’t know the gender yet, but we have decided to find out!! We have some dreams of a really special reveal, but with everything happening in the world right now, we may need to be flexible with these dreams. But hoping to get to share in a few weeks. I’m just excited to get to know this little he/she a little bit more. Totally open to allowing you all in on the guessing game! What do you think it will be?

How we told our families!

This was so much fun sharing our news with our families! I LOVE reliving it! We shared our reveal on my instagram, and if you haven’t seen it, I invite you to watch it! We told both of our families the same way. We had them open up a gift that was a small shadowbox with the positive pregnancy test (I had to do 4 of these to fulfill the need for our gifts, haha!) and our sonogram!

Because this was such a surprise to us, we knew it would get them too! Both of our set of Parents are grandparents to 2 girlies each! So from both of our sisters, we have 4 nieces total! Since they’re already grandparents we really wanted to get them with our news!

The way we caught them off guard by giving them a random gift was by sneaking it in during a time we might usually exchange gifts. So for Taylor’s family, it was around Valentine’s Day- and his mom and sister are the queen’s of gifts! So I gifted them each a bottle of Champagne (normal) and then had a little wrapped gift in addition! They didn’t even catch on!

With my family, it was a TOTAL surprise. I had actually spent four days helping my sister with her newborn baby and her toddler before I said anything because I wanted Taylor to be able to be there for the reveal too, and he couldn’t come up to Oregon to be with us until the weekend. By the time we were ALL together, one of my grandma’s got to be there too, we celebrated my Dad’s birthday! And then I said I had gifts for everyone from Europe (although the gift isn’t from Europe), and somehow they still didn’t suspect anything!!

We also surprised several of our friends with our news, which we only captured a few of those on camera! Hoping to share those someday.

Here’s the reveal to watch our Family Reveal:

Our Epic love story has already been written!

God continues to show me that life is so much better trusting Him, His ways, and His timing. As I wrote in the beginning, I truly believe that He is writing beautiful stories out of all of our lives, and they all look very different, but no one is forgotten. Trust Him in doing so! Again, as I’m writing this, and very sensitive to the fact that every story looks different, know that my heart is meeting you right where you’re at.

Here’s one of my favorite thoughts to leave you with, inspired by Ephesians 3:20—